First count votes in Parliamentary Elections in Malta - 1921-2017

Malta is required to hold a General Election to elect Members of Parliament every 5 years. Elections are conducted using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method, which is regarded as one of the fairest ways to transfer the wishes of the electorate into parliamentary seats, in a more representational manner.

The graphic representation above shows the number of first count votes – that is, the first preference of the voters, in General Elections held between 1921, when Malta had its first Self-Government, up to the last General Election in 2017.

It also shows how Malta moved from a multi-party democracy to a two-party system, defeating the intended purpose of the STV method.

Further reading:

• How Malta Votes: An Overview
• Datasets used for the graphic representation were compiled by the University of Malta in its ‘Malta Elections’ project, and can be found here.