The President's writ for the holding of local elections on March 8 was published in the Government Gazette this evening (Friday), reinforcing expectations that Parliament will be dissolved on Monday for the general elections to also be held on March 8.
The House last week completed all important business which was on its agenda, with three laws having been approved through all stages along with the ratification of the EU's Lisbon treaty.
March 8 will be exactly five years since the holding of the referendum on EU membership.
The various stages of the electoral process require a period of 33 days between the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of elections - a period covered exactly between next Monday and March 8
This will be the second time that local elections in a third of Malta's localities will be held concurrently with nation-wide elections. The first was in 2004 when the local elections were held with the European Parliament elections.