Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545068
8 maltatoday | TUESDAY • 26 MAY 2026 FEATURE ELECTION 2026 Winning an election: Paradoxically simple and complicated How is an election won? Are extra seats awarded? How will the mechanism to have more women MPs work? Who wins the election? It's pretty simple really—the par- ty with the most votes wins the election and gets to form a govern- ment. But it may get complicated if more than two parties elect MPs or an independent manages to slip through. What do you mean 'complicated'? Malta's electoral system has pro- duced some quirky results in the past since the party that gets the most votes does not necessarily get the most parliamentary seats. This changed in 2007 when the Constitution was amended to en- sure that the number of seats a po- litical party occupies in parliament is proportional to the number of votes it gets in the election. In the 2013 election the Labour Party obtained 39 seats while the Na- tionalist Party obtained 26 seats after the vote counting exercise ended. However, the proportion of seats won by the PL overstated the party's electoral strength while the PN's seat tally understated its vote. According to the consti- tutional mechanism the PN was awarded four extra seats to bring the parliamentary balance closer to the election result. A similar situation happened in the 2017 election when the PN was award- ed two extra seats. And so, where is the complication? The 2007 mechanism only ap- plies if two parties are elected to parliament or, in a scenario where more than two parties are repre- sented in parliament, one of them has an absolute majority. What is an absolute majority? An absolute majority is when a political party obtains over 50% of first-count votes… even if it is just one vote more than the half- way mark. But what happens if two parties are elected to parliament and none obtain an absolute majority of votes? The party with the most votes, even though it enjoys a rela- tive majority, is the winner. This happened in 2008 when the Nationalist Party won the election with a relative major- ity of 49.3% against the Labour Party's 48.8%. However, since the PN ended up with 31 seats against Labour's 34 seats, the proportionality mechanism kicked in and awarded four ex- tra seats to the PN. This gave the PN a one-seat majority. And if MPs from three political parties are elected? If one of the parties has an absolute majority, it will be as- sured victory through the 2007 mechanism. But if none of the three parties obtains an abso- lute majority it is the number of seats obtained after the vote counting process is concluded that determines which party has the parliamentary numbers to govern. In this case, no extra seats are awarded. And if an independent candidate is elected alongside MPs from the two major parties, what happens? For all intents and purposes, the independent MP will be considered like any third-par- ty MP and the same principles apply. Who wins in this case? Well, the party with most seats will form a government if it has a parliamentary majority. But if the numbers do not add up, the parties will have to ex- plore forming a coalition. This happened in the 1950, 1951 and 1953 elections. And what is this fuss about women candidates? It's actually not a fuss but a reality that female representa- tion in the Maltese parliament has not improved in decades. In 2021, parliament approved a new law that allows up to 12 extra seats to be awarded to the under-represented gender. However, this mechanism will only apply if two political par- ties are elected to parliament. This mechanism was applied for the first time in the 2022 election. How will this work? The gender mechanism kicks in after the election process concludes and all MPs are known—even those elected in casual elections. The Electoral Commission determines if any gender representation falls be- low 40%. This is very likely to be women. In this case, extra seats are awarded to either side of the House to be filled by un- elected women candidates in a bid to reach the 40% thresh- old. However, the extra seats are capped at 12—six for either side. Before we continue; what is a casual election? Malta's electoral law allows candidates to contest two elec- toral districts. If a candidate who contests two districts is elected from both, they will have to give up one district. A casual election takes place on the vacated district between unelected candidates on that district. Back to the election of women. How are the 'extra' female seats awarded? The unelected women candi- dates left standing at the last count will be automatically de- clared elect. This is similar to the manner by which the 2007 proportional representation mechanism works. And if the 40% threshold is still not reached? The Electoral Commission will draw up a rank order for each party of women candi- dates that would have been eliminated. The ranking will be based on the amount of votes each candidate would have in-