To my mind Dom Mintoff’s career is better represented by his role of parliamentarian than that of Prime Minister. As an MP Mintoff was truly the people’s man and, as has been seen at this funeral, he did appeal to a large sector of society.
Mintoff was first elected at the Council of Government at the election in 1945 and remained an MP for 53 years till 1998, which constitutes the record in terms of a consecutive stretch as a serving MP.
He was returned in 14 general elections and served as leader of the Malta Labour Party for 36 years (1948-1984).
It is indeed notable that Mintoff was always elected by the quota of votes and beyond.
This is not always the case, even of other great parliamentarians who made it to Prime Minister.
He was also elected from two districts as from the 1950 election.
Of the MPs who became Prime Minister, George Borg Olivier and Eddie Fenech Adami put up a very good fight to Mintoff even where electoral numbers are concerned.
Fenech Adami became leader in 1977 and resigned in 2004. He led the Nationalist Party for 27 years and served as an MP for 38 years being returned in nine elections.
Fenech Adami, however, has the unique achievement of being the first person to occupy the office of Prime Minister and that of President, to which he was appointed by the House of Representatives in April 2004.
Therefore, from the constitutional perspective, Fenech Adami remained a component of Parliament, as distinct from a Member of the House of Representatives since the Constitution defines the Parliament of Malta as the House of Representatives and the President of Malta.
The possibility of Mintoff being appointed President was often mooted and in fact the speculation even led to contemplating changes to the presidency in order to enhance its role.
Fenech Adami’s parliamentary association therefore ended in 2009 when the five-year term of office as President came to an end.
This would allow Fenech Adami to have been 43 years serving the institution defined by the Constitution of Malta as the Parliament.
He then holds the record of the MP who obtained the highest number of first preferences at a general election (2003).
Borg Olivier was first elected to the Council of Government in 1939 and was always re-elected up to the legislature of 1976-1981, totalling a parliamentary career of 42 years.
He was returned in 10 elections. This would qualify Borg Olivier as the second-longest serving MP within the House of Representatives.
The career of two other great parliamentarians and former Prime Ministers was unfortunately cut short by their untimely death when still MPs.
Lord Strickland had served for 21 years when he died in 1940, a member of the Council of Government; while Nerik Mizzi had served for 29 years as a parliamentarian and was also Prime Minister when he died. It is more than probable that both would have challenged seriously for the post of longest serving MP.
Mintoff’s place of honour as a parliamentarian was underlined by the statement made by Fenech Adami when he reminded the nation of Mintoff’s dramatic intervention in the House of Representatives, driving along with him a very, very reluctant and unrepentant MLP parliamentary group to vote in favour of the constitutional amendment introducing majority rule guarantees, which were to undo that affront to democratic parliamentary government that the 1981 perverse results represented.
It is to be noted that Mintoff was no longer Prime Minister in 1986 but a back-bencher.
Another Emeritus President, the late Guido de Marco, recounted Mintoff’s Parliamentary tactics in his autobiography:
“True to his word, Mintoff made a violent attack on us, something we had to take with clenched teeth. The Socialist parliamentarians just loved it.
“As they invariably did whenever Mintoff made important speeches, they applauded him and banged on their desks in approval. Then, at the very moment he felt sure he had them all on his side, he announced the proposed amendments.”
The tribute of two Presidents who fought Mintoff politically to the hilt, is the tribute to Mintoff the parliamentarian.