Malta Labour Party

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Partit Laburista
Malta Labour Party
Image:Malta Labour Party (Emblem).gif
Leader Joseph Muscat
Founded 1920 refounded 1949
Headquarters Ċentru Nazzjonali Laburista
Triq Mile End
Hamrun
Political Ideology Democratic socialism,
Social Democracy
International Affiliation Socialist International
European Affiliation Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group PES
Colours Red and Red-violet
Website www.mlp.org.mt
See also Politics of Malta

Political parties
Elections

The Malta Labour Party (MLP, Maltese: Partit Laburista) is one of two major contemporary political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party. It is currently the main party of opposition in Malta having thirty-four of the sixty-nine seats in the Maltese House of Representatives[1].

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation (1949-1962)

The Malta Labour Party was founded in 1949 as a successor to the Labour Party founded in 1921. Dr Paul Boffa, Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister since 1947, resigned and left the party because of serious disagreements with his Deputy Dominic Mintoff which had led to a series of cabinet crises. Boffa formed the Malta Workers Party (MWP) while Mintoff re-organized the Labour Party as the present-day Malta Labour Party.

The MLP contested its first elections for the Malta Legislative Assembly the following year. The old Labour vote was split equally between the MLP and the MWP, giving them eleven members each. This allowed the Nationalist Party (PN) to have a slight edge in the formation of a government, which it did in coalition with the MWP. The government did not last long. Two other elections were held in 1951 and 1953 (the last time a coalition governed in Malta) which both saw short-lived PN-MWP coalitions and the decline in the share of votes to the MWP with increasing support for the MLP.

The MWP eventually disintegrated and the MLP formed a government for the first time in 1955. This legislature was dominated by the issue of integration with the United Kingdom. The party, which started its life as an anti-colonial party with the slogan "Integration or self-determination" was now inclined towards the first part of the formula. A referendum was held in 1958 but given the number of abstensions and massive opposition by the Nationalist Party and the Catholic Church, the result was inconclusive. This, together with a number of dismissals at the naval dockyard led to Mintoff's resignation and his call for massive protests in April 1958.

[edit] The Mintoff Era (1962-1984)

The Governor re-established direct colonial government which lasted until 1962. In the meantime, the MLP's connections with Third World Independentist and Socialist movements, set it on a collision course with the Maltese Catholic Church, which the Party perceived as pro-British and the cause of failure of the Integration project. This led to the party leadership being interdicted from 1961 to 1964, when reading, advertising and distributing Party newspapers was deemed a mortal sin. In the 1962 elections this led to the defeat of the Party at the polls as well as a split with the creation of the Christian Workers' Party. Peace with the Church would not be made until 1969 by which time the Christian Workers' Party had disintegrated.

The Malta Labour Party participated in independence talks but disagreed with what was offered, causing them to not participate in the Independence celebrations when independence was actually achieved in 1964. The party made strong gains in the 1966 elections which, however, were not enough to see it in office.

An unimportant split occurred in 1969 when the Communist Party of Malta was founded. This split happened as a result of the truce between the Malta Labour Party and local Catholic authorities. The Communist Party has since only contested the 1987 elections.

The Malta Labour Party won the 1971 general election and immediately set out to re-negotiate the post-Independence military and financial agreements with the United Kingdom. The party also undertook massive nationalization programmes whilst setting up various State owned companies and investments and expansion of the welfare state introducing several benefits to workers and families and further introducing acts of parliament aimed at employee rights and trade union rights. Malta became a republic in 1974. The MLP won the 1976 elections. Amongst other things, homosexual relationships and adultery were decriminalised and the Government managed to secularise the State introducing civil marriages and modernising Maltese civil law. A law that gave males and females a right to the same wage for the same work done was also enacted amongst employment laws enacted at the time.

In 1981 the Party managed to hold on to a parliamentary majority even though the opposition Nationalist Party managed an absolute majority of ballots. A serious political crisis ensued when Nationalists MPs refused to take their seats for the first years of the legislature. Premier Mintoff called this result a "perverse" one. He had proposed that fresh elections had to be held, but members of his Parliamentary group rejected this proposal. Mintoff resigned as Prime Minister and Party leader in 1984 (although he retained his parliamentary seat) making way for his appointee Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

[edit] 1984-1992

In 1984 the relations between the Maltese church and the labour party were very bad.The party agreed to constitutional amendments in 1987, which guaranteed that the party with a majority of vote was given a majority of seats. Thanks to the amendment the Nationalists returned to Government after 16 years. The party lost governmant after 3 consecutive elections in 1987.

Labour Party Club, Republic Street, Valletta, 1985
Labour Party Club, Republic Street, Valletta, 1985

The MLP performed badly in 1992, losing the election with nearly 13,000 votes and Mifsud Bonnici resigned. On the 26th of March 1992 he was succeeded by Dr Alfred Sant.

[edit] 1992-2008

Dr.Sant who won the election for party leader, and then modernized the party, secured a victory at the polls in 1996. Under Sant's leadership the party made several changes. The party opened the new Malta Labour Party Headquarters in Hamrun instead of the old Macina in Cottonera. The party also made giant steps in the media by being the first Maltese political party to own his radio and television stations.

Dr.Sant managed to win the 1996 elections held on the 26th of October, by winning the election with more than 7,500 votes on the Nationalist Party. But, the party managed to get only one seat in parliament more than the opposition.

However, trouble was brewing. Mr Mintoff started creating problems in Parliament where the government had only a single seat majority. Things came to a head in summer of 1998 when the government lost a vote on the lease of the Cottonera waterfront. On the 9th June 1996, Sant called early elections to be held on the 5th September, and was defeated.

Back in opposition, the party campaigned unsuccessfully against EU membership, and the 'NO' camp lost the referendum for the accesion of Malta in the European Union on the 8th March and was again defeated in the general elections a month on, on the 12th April 2003. Sant resigned but stood again for election of Leadership of the Party where he was voted again as leader with more than 65% of the vote.

In June 2004 the party succeeded in obtaining a relative majority of votes in the elections held to elect the first five Maltese MEPs for the European Parliament[2]. The party elected 3 of his candidates: Joseph Muscat, John Attard Montalto and Louis Grech.

[edit] 2008-present

In 2008 the Malta Labour Party lost for the third consecutive time in the 2008 general elections, obtaining 48.79% share of the vote[3] and losing the election to the Nationalist Party by just 1,580 votes or 0.5%. Following the loss of the election, Sant resigned as MLP leader on 10th March 2008.

The first round of the election of the new leader were held on 5 June 2008. Five members contested this election as candidates: George Abela (a former Deputy Leader), Evarist Bartolo (a frontbench MP and ex-Minister), Marie Louise Coleiro Preca (a frontbench MP and former Secretary-General of the Party), Michael Falzon (an MP and Deputy Leader of the Party) and Joseph Muscat (an MEP). In the first round neither candidate obtained 50%+1 the majority of the votes. So a run up election had to be held on the 6th June between the top two candidates who obtained the most number of votes, Dr.George Abela and Dr. Joseph Muscat. Dr Joseph Muscat was elected MLP leader, gathering 67% of the total votes.

[edit] Media

The Party owns a television station that broadcasts at a national level, One Television, and a radio station that also broadcasts on a national scale, One Radio. The Party issues the Sunday weekly KullĦadd and also runs the on-line newspaper maltastar.com.

[edit] Past and Current Leaders

Portrait Entered office Left office Length of Leadership Date of Birth and Death
1 William Savona 1920 1928 8 years 12 March 1865 - 18 January 1937
2 Paul Boffa 1928 1949 21 years 30 June 1890 - 6 July 1962
3 Dom Mintoff 1949 1984 35 years 6 August 1916 - present
4 Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici 1984 1992 8 years 17 July 1933 - present
5 Alfred Sant 26 March 1992 10 March 2008 15 years, 11 months, 15 days 28 February 1948 - present
6 Joseph Muscat 06 June 2008 Present 22 January 1974 - present

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=67864
  2. ^ "European Parliament Elections 2004". 
  3. ^ "General election 2008: Votes Polled during First Count by Party", Department of Information, Malta, 10 March 2008. 

[edit] External links

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Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of Malta