Naxar: The Malta Labor Party won an unprecedented fourth term on Sunday, delivering a victory for outgoing Prime Minister Robert Abela, who called a snap election in light of geopolitical uncertainties.Fireworks were set off across the small Mediterranean island, and Labor supporters wearing the party’s red color chanted “Four times!” After Naxar counting board officials said preliminary results gave the election to the ruling party.Margaret Camilleri (73 years old) told AFP: “I have voted for the Labor Party since I was a little girl, and I feel very happy because they made history,” as Labor Party supporters passed a truck with loudspeakers blaring the song “We Are the Champions.”Abella, 48, had sent the country to vote a year before the election, saying the government needed a new mandate to protect the small island of great import from the Middle East crisis.While Malta’s economy grew by 4.0 percent last year, there are concerns that the conflict could have an impact on tourism due to rising aviation fuel costs and rising inflation.Abela has campaigned on Labour’s economic record since 2013, vowing stability in a period of uncertainty.
“All indicators seem to show that the Malta Labor Party has made history by winning four consecutive elections,” he said.His main rival was National Party candidate Alex Borg, a 30-year-old lawyer and former winner of the Mr Malta World pageant, who urged Maltese to vote for change.Borg admitted on Sunday, saying in a letter posted on social media that he had “personally called Robert Abella to congratulate him” on the win.Abela has been leading Malta since 2020, when his predecessor resigned following a political crisis over the assassination in 2017 of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who exposed corruption at the highest level in the country.According to the Council of Europe’s 2025 report, Malta still lags significantly in the fight against corruption – but the issue has not been a hot topic in the election campaign.Population boomMalta’s economic performance has trumped other concerns.Located off the coast of Sicily, Malta is the smallest and most densely populated country in the European Union, with about 550,000 people living in an area of 316 square kilometers (122 square miles).The island has a thriving economy based largely on tourism, online gaming and financial services, and it also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the European Union.But despite the declining birth rate, the population has increased by about 30 percent over a decade, driven largely by foreigners.This has fueled a building boom, filling the skyline with cranes, creating traffic jams and putting pressure on key services.Heritage groups denounced environmental degradation and risks to UNESCO World Heritage sites in the former British colony.The country has very few natural resources and imports much of its energy needs, making it vulnerable to external shocks.Labor supports energy bills heavily and has pledged to continue doing so.Malta is also on the front line of climate change and at risk of desertification and drought, but neither major party has made the issue a top priority.There is a Green Party, ADPD, but no third party has even held a seat in Malta’s Parliament since before independence in 1964.
