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This is a list of Maltese governments from the creation of the first self-Government of Malta in 1921.
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This is a list of Maltese governments from the creation of the first self-Government of Malta in 1921.
Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is an island country in the European Union consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, and considered part of Southern Europe. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily (Italy), 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The official languages are Maltese and English, and 66% of the current Maltese population is at least conversational in the Italian language.
The politics of Malta takes place within a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Malta is the constitutional head of state. Executive Authority is vested in the President of Malta with the general direction and control of the Government of Malta remaining with the Prime Minister of Malta who is the head of government and the cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Malta which consists of the President of Malta and the unicameral House of Representatives of Malta with the Speaker presiding officer of the legislative body. Judicial power remains with the Chief Justice and the Judiciary of Malta. Since Independence, the party electoral system has been dominated by the Christian democratic Nationalist Party and the social democratic Labour Party.
After independence in 1964, Malta followed a policy of close co-operation with NATO countries. Since 1971, the country sought relations with the rest of the world, including communist countries in Eastern Europe and the non-aligned countries.
Malta has a long history and was first inhabited in around 5900 BC. The first inhabitants were farmers, and their agricultural methods degraded the soil until the islands became uninhabitable. The islands were repopulated around 3850 BC by a civilization which at its peak built the Megalithic Temples, which today are among the oldest surviving buildings in the world. Their civilization collapsed in around 2350 BC, but the islands were repopulated by Bronze Age warriors soon afterwards.
Valletta is the administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480 134. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just 0.61 square kilometres (0.24 sq mi), it is the European Union's smallest capital city.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, commonly known as the Order of Malta, Malta Order or Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of a military, chivalric, and noble nature. Though it possesses no territory, the order is a sovereign entity of international law and maintains diplomatic relations with many countries.
The Nationalist Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Malta, along with the Labour Party.
The president of Malta is the constitutional head of state of Malta. The President is indirectly elected by the House of Representatives of Malta, which appoints the president for a five-year term and requires them to swear an oath to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution. The President of Malta also resides directly or indirectly in all three branches of the state. They are part of Parliament and responsible for the appointment of the judiciary. Executive authority is nominally vested in the President, but is in practice exercised by the Prime Minister.
The Labour Party, formerly known as the Malta Labour Party (MLP), is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party. It sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum in Malta.
The prime minister of Malta is the head of government, which is the highest official of Malta.
Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS) is the public broadcaster of Malta. PBS is funded by government grants and the sale of commercial airtime. Its TVM channel is Malta's most watched television channel, and its radio station Magic Malta enjoys huge popularity among local and tourist listeners.
The current Constitution of Malta was adopted as a legal order on 21 September 1964, and is the self-declared supreme law of the land. Therefore, any law or action in violation of the Constitution is null and void. Being a rigid constitution, it has a three-tier entrenchment basis in order for any amendments to take place.
The Maltese passport is a passport that is issued to citizens of the Republic of Malta. Every Maltese citizen is also a citizen of the European Union and a Commonwealth citizen. The passport, along with the national identity card, allows for free rights of movement and residence in all member states of the European Economic Area, as well as Switzerland.
The Government of Malta is the executive branch of the Maltese State. It is made up of the Cabinet and the Parliamentary Secretaries. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of Malta, with the President making their decision based on the situation within the Maltese parliament. The Prime Minister is responsible for assigning departments of government to Permanent Secretaries. The President of Malta also appoints the rest of the cabinet with the assent of the Prime Minister of Malta.
Gozo, known locally as Għawdex and in antiquity as Gaulos, is an island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago.
The Parliament of Malta is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the President of Malta. By constitutional law, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, must be members of the House of Representatives.
The Crown Colony of the Island of Malta and its Dependencies was the British colony in the Maltese islands, today the modern Republic of Malta. It was established when the Malta Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1813, and this was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1814.
General elections were held in Malta on 26 March 2022 to elect members of the House of Representatives. Following the June 2017 election, the Labour Party (PL), which has governed Malta since 2013, retained its majority in the House of Representatives, and Joseph Muscat remained prime minister. Muscat resigned in January 2020, and was succeeded by Robert Abela. Later that year, Bernard Grech succeeded Adrian Delia as the leader of the Nationalist Party.
Robert Abela is a Maltese lawyer and politician who has served as Prime Minister of Malta and Leader of Labour Party since 2020. The son of former President George Abela, he was elected to Parliament in 2017. Abela was sworn in as Prime Minister following the resignation of Joseph Muscat on 13 January 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Malta is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case of the disease in Malta was an Italian 12-year-old girl on 7 March 2020. The girl and her family were in isolation, as required by those following the Maltese health authority's guidelines who were in Italy or other highly infected countries. Later, both her parents were found positive as well.