Most Maltese would support a woman or, to a lesser extent, even a gay person leading the country, according to a Eurobaro-meter survey.

The survey, conducted by Misco last June among 500 people, shows 84 per cent of Maltese respondents would feel comfortable with a female Prime Minister.

They were actually more disposed towards this idea than their European counterparts.

While on average, in the rest of the EU, 79 per cent would feel comfortable with a woman at the helm, Malta’s acceptance of a woman PM is much higher than in Germany (74 per cent) where Angela Merkel is Chancellor.

On the other hand, Sweden (97 per cent), a famously liberal country, is the most tolerant.

Less acceptable seems to be a gay or lesbian Prime Minister in Malta, although even in this case there are signs of change. Some 55 per cent of Maltese respondents said they would accept a gay PM while many of the rest said this would be totally unacceptable.

In the EU, only 50 per cent said it would be fine to have a gay or lesbian PM.

In Belgium, where Prime Minister Elio di Rupo is openly gay, the level of acceptance rises to 71 per cent.

The survey tackled a number of issues related to discrimination.

The majority of Maltese respondents, 54 per cent, agreed that discrimination is still widespread on the island, even though the reasons may be many.

The main targets, according to the Maltese, are transgender and transsexual people, followed by people aged over 55 when finding a new job.

Asked whether they had experienced any form of discrimination in the past 12 months, 11 per cent of Maltese respondents said yes, with most feeling discriminated against due to their religious beliefs.

According to Eurobarometer, while 32 per cent of respondents feel that various initiatives taken by the authorities to fight discrimination are effective, 21 per cent said that much more needs to be done.