2019 European Parliament election in Malta
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All 6 Maltese seats in the European Parliament | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 72.66% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2019 European Parliament election was held in Malta on 25 May 2019.[1] 8 different political parties took part in the election, of which, only 2 won seats in the European Parliament; the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, with 4 and 2 seats respectively.[2]
Contesting parties
[edit]Alleanza Bidla
[edit]Ivan Grech Mintoff and Rebecca Dalli Gonzi contested on behalf of Alleanza Bidla.[3] a conservative Christian and Eurosceptic party.
Brain, Not Ego
[edit]Antoine P. Borg contested on behalf of fledgling political party Brain, Not Ego.[4]
Democratic Alternative
[edit]Democratic Alternative announced the approval of its 3 European parliamentary election candidates. They were: Arnold Cassola, Mina Tolu and Carmel Cacopardo.[5] In the wake of a dispute regarding the topic of abortion, Cassola resigned from Democratic Alternative and contested the EP election as an independent candidate.[6][7][8]
Democratic Party
[edit]The Democratic Party announced the approval of its 4 European parliamentary election candidates, They were: Martin Cauchi Inglott,[9] Anthony Buttigieg, Godfrey Farrugia[10] and Camilla Appelgren.
Imperium Europa
[edit]Norman Lowell announced that he would once again contest the European parliamentary election after Imperium Europa was officially registered with the Electoral Commission.[11]
Independents
[edit]Arnold Cassola announced that he would contest the European parliamentary election as an independent candidate.[6][7][8] Stephen Florian announced that he would contest as an Independent candidate after resigning from the executive of the Moviment Patrijotti Maltin.[12] Other independent candidates included Nazzareno Bonnici (Partit Ta' L-Ajkla), Mario Borg and Joseph Aquilina.
Labour Party
[edit]The Labour Party announced the approval of its 14 European parliamentary election candidates. They were: Alfred Sant, Mary Gauci, Lorna Vassallo, Robert Micallef, Cyrus Engerer, Alex Agius Saliba, Felix Busuttil, Miriam Dalli, James Grech, Joe Sammut, Josianne Cutajar, Fleur Vella, Noel Cassar and Josef Caruana.[13]
Moviment Patrijotti Maltin
[edit]Simon Borg and Naged Magelly contested on behalf of Moviment Patrijotti Maltin, an offshoot of the anti-immigration group Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin led by Henry Battistino which campaigns against irregular migration, Malta's participation in the Schengen Area, and Islam in Malta.
Nationalist Party
[edit]The Nationalist Party announced the approval of its 10 European parliamentary election candidates. They were: Roberta Metsola, David Casa, Francis Zammit Dimech, Peter Agius, Dione Borg, Michael Briguglio, Frank Psaila, Roselyn Borg Knight, Michael Mercieca[10] and David Stellini.[14]
Opinion polls
[edit]Expressing a preference
[edit]The values in the table below are derived by removing non-party responses (i.e. non-voters and "don't know"); as the margin is also recalculated, there may be slight differences in exact lead margins due to rounding.
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size |
PL | PN | PD | AD | IE | MPM | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 election | 25 May 2019 | – | 54.3 | 37.9 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 16.4 |
| Sagalytics[permanent dead link] | 11–17 May 2019 | 600 | 56.9 | 37.3 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 1.7 | – | 1.1 | 19.6 |
| MaltaToday | 9–15 May 2019 | 849 | 57.8 | 39.1 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 18.8 |
| MISCO | 8–11 May 2019 | 402 | 55.0 | 40.0 | <1 | <1 | – | – | 3.4 | 15.0 |
| MaltaToday | 25 Apr–3 May 2019 | 602 | 58.0 | 38.1 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19.8 |
| Sagalytics[permanent dead link] | 23 Apr–2 May 2019 | 600 | 55.2 | 39.0 | – | – | – | – | 5.8 | 16.2 |
| MaltaToday | 28 Mar–4 Apr 2019 | 597 | 62.5 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 25.0 |
| MISCO | 27–29 Mar 2019 | 402 | 59 | 37 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | 22 |
| MaltaToday | 22–27 Feb 2019 | 598 | 59.5 | 38.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 21.1 |
| MaltaToday | 21–28 Jan 2019 | 597 | 62.6 | 36.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 26.2 |
| 2014 election | 25 May 2014 | – | 53.4 | 40.0 | – | 2.9 | 2.7 | – | 1.0 | 13.4 |
Complete data
[edit]| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size |
PL | PN | PD | AD | IE | MPM | Others | Lead | Not voting |
Don't know/invalid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 election | 25 May 2019 | – | 38.0 | 26.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 11.5 | 27.3 | 2.6 |
| Sagalytics[permanent dead link] | 11–17 May 2019 | 600 | 56.9 | 37.3 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 1.7 | – | 1.1 | 19.6 | – | – |
| MaltaToday | 9–15 May 2019 | 849 | 41.3 | 27.9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 13.4 | 9.2 | 18.6 |
| MISCO | 8–11 May 2019 | 402 | 41.4 | 30.1 | <0.8 | <0.8 | – | – | 2.6 | 11.3 | 22.0 | 11.0 |
| MaltaToday | 25 Apr–3 May 2019 | 602 | 44.1 | 29.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.1 | 9.8 | 12.4 |
| Sagalytics[permanent dead link] | 23 Apr–2 May 2019 | 600 | 55.2 | 39.0 | – | – | – | – | 5.8 | 16.2 | – | – |
| MaltaToday | 28 Mar–4 Apr 2019 | 597 | 41.8 | 25.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 16.7 | 13.8 | 17.3 |
| MISCO | 27–29 Mar 2019 | 402 | 40 | 25 | 1.5 | 1.5 | – | – | – | 15 | 32 | – |
| MaltaToday | 22–27 Feb 2019 | 598 | 42.3 | 27.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 13.2 | 13.9 |
| MaltaToday | 21–28 Jan 2019 | 597 | 42.0 | 24.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 17.6 | 12.8 | 19.3 |
| 2014 election | 25 May 2014 | – | 39.0 | 29.3 | – | 2.2 | 2.0 | – | 0.7 | 13.4 | 26.9 | – |
Results
[edit]Shortly after the first exit polls were announced, it was thought that Labour Party had a majority of 51,600 votes over the Nationalist Party, but this was later decreased to 42,656 after the official results came out.[15] Although a large majority for Labour was expected, as well as Labour winning 4 out of 6 seats, the majority was unexpected and historic.[16] Adrian Delia, the leader of the opposition, conceded defeat. He did state, however, that he would not resign because of the result and that his aim was still the next Maltese general election.[17] Although the far-right political party Imperium Europa increased their vote share from 2.68% in the 2014 European Parliament election to 3.17% (at 8,238 votes) in the current election, this was far less than initially thought by the Maltese media, who had thought that they had received about 15,000 votes.[18] The Democratic Party on the other hand, then the only third party in the Maltese Parliament, only managed to get 5,276 votes, with Camilla Appelgren defying expectations by not only getting 3,052 votes, but also beating her own party leader Godfrey Farrugia, who only managed to get 1,668 votes.[19]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | 141,267 | 54.29 | 4 | +1 | |
| Nationalist Party | 98,611 | 37.90 | 2 | –1 | |
| Imperium Europa | 8,238 | 3.17 | 0 | 0 | |
| Democratic Party | 5,276 | 2.03 | 0 | New | |
| Democratic Alternative | 1,866 | 0.72 | 0 | 0 | |
| Alleanza Bidla | 1,186 | 0.46 | 0 | 0 | |
| Moviment Patrijotti Maltin | 771 | 0.30 | 0 | New | |
| Brain, Not Ego | 323 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |
| Independents | 2,674 | 1.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 260,212 | 100.00 | 6 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 260,212 | 96.37 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 9,810 | 3.63 | |||
| Total votes | 270,022 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 371,643 | 72.66 | |||
| Source: Electoral Commission | |||||
The elected candidates were:
| Candidate | Party | 1st Pref. | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miriam Dalli | PL | 63,438 | 1 | |
| Roberta Metsola | PN | 38,206 | 1 | |
| Alfred Sant | PL | 26,592 | 14 | |
| David Casa | PN | 20,493 | 38 | |
| Alex Agius Saliba | PL | 18,808 | 39 | |
| Josianne Cutajar | PL | 15,603 | 39 | |
References
[edit]- ^ "Next MEP election dates confirmed for May 2019". MaltaToday.com.mt. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
- ^ "2019 European election results". election-results.eu. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
- ^ "Mintoff and Gonzi back in politics". 7 January 2019.
- ^ "New independent political party for EP elections: 'Brain, not ego' - The Malta Independent". independent.com.mt. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
- ^ Mina_Tolu (2018-11-17). "Alternattiva Demokratika – Kandidati Parlament Ewropew 2019". Mina Tolu (in Maltese). Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ a b "Updated: Cassola resigns from AD in wake of abortion dispute; 'you're wrong', Cacopardo says - The Malta Independent". independent.com.mt. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
- ^ a b Ltd, Allied Newspapers (17 February 2019). "Cassola resigns from AD after 30 years, citing differences over abortion". Times of Malta. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
- ^ a b Mallia, Mathias (2019-02-17). "Updated: "From today on, I will walk my political journey alone" - Cassola". Newsbook. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
- ^ "[WATCH] Retired army officer to contest MEP elections with Partit Demokratiku". MaltaToday.com.mt. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ a b "Explainer The European Parliament elections and the Maltese candidates". maltatoday.com.mt. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
- ^ "Imperium Europa approved as a political party, Norman Lowell to contest MEP elections".
- ^ "'Qed nirriżenja mill-Moviment Patrijotti Maltin u se naħdem bħala politiku indipendenti' - Stephen Florian".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Labour Party Unveils 14 MEP Candidates For 2019 Elections". lovinmalta.com. December 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
- ^ "PN approves first group of candidates to contest MEP election". MaltaToday.com.mt. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
- ^ "Official results out, Labour lead trimmed to 42,656". www.timesofmalta.com. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "Historic victory for Labour as PN supporters score an own goal by staying away". www.timesofmalta.com. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "Delia says his target remains 2022 election". www.timesofmalta.com. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "Far-right candidates gain fewer votes than feared". www.timesofmalta.com. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "Clean-up campaigner Camilla Appelgren beats her own party leader". www.maltatoday.com.mt. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "Being elected 'not a prize, but a duty' – President tells MEPs; Casa, Metsola miss meeting". Malta Independent.
- ^ "MEP Election - 2019". Malta Electoral Commission.
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