Maltese general election, 1939

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General elections were held in Malta between 22 and 24 July 1939. [1] The Constitutional Party emerged as the largest party, winning 6 of the 10 seats.

Malta island republic in Europe

Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. With a population of about 475,000 over an area of 316 km2 (122 sq mi), Malta is the world's tenth smallest and fifth most densely populated country. Its capital is Valletta, which is the smallest national capital in the European Union by area at 0.8 km.2 The official languages are Maltese and English, with Maltese officially recognised as the national language and the only Semitic language in the European Union.

The Constitutional Party was a pro-British political party in Malta. It had representatives in the Maltese Legislative Assembly and Council of Government between 1921 and 1945, and again between 1950 and 1953, forming a government between 1927 and 1930 with the support of the Labour Party. A splinter group, the Progressive Constitutionalist Party was represented in Parliament between 1962 and 1966. The party was very much centred on the figure of its long-time leader Lord Strickland, with party supporters colloquially known in Maltese as "Stricklandjani".

Contents

Electoral system

The elections were held using the single transferable vote system, whilst suffrage was limited to men meeting certain property qualifications. [2] The number of seats was reduced from 32 to 10. [3]

The single transferable vote (STV) is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through ranked voting in multi-seat organizations or constituencies. Under STV, an elector (voter) has a single vote that is initially allocated to their most preferred candidate. Votes are totalled and a quota derived. If their candidate achieves quota, he/she is elected and in some STV systems any surplus vote is transferred to other candidates in proportion to the voters' stated preferences. If more candidates than seats remain, the bottom candidate is eliminated with his/her votes being transferred to other candidates as determined by the voters' stated preferences. These elections and eliminations, and vote transfers if applicable, continue until there are only as many candidates as there are unfilled seats. The specific method of transferring votes varies in different systems.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Constitutional Party 19,15654.56–4
Nationalist Party 11,61833.13–18
Labour Party 3,1008.810
Independents1,2653.600
Invalid/blank votes371–––
Total35,51010010–22
Registered voters/turnout47,30675.1––
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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References

  1. ↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1302 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p1298
  3. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p1309
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