A good year for:
Joseph Muscat
After successfully reuniting the party, Dr Muscat presided over Labour’s historic landslide victory in the March 9 general election, in which it won a 37,000 vote and nine seat parliamentary majority, and became Prime Minister at the age of 39.
Simon Busuttil
The former popular MEP had a speedy rise to the highest ranks of the Nationalist Party. A gifted speaker, he created two posts for deputy leader and then successfully rallied public opinion against the Labour government’s controversial citizenship scheme.
Joseph Calleja
By now a permanent fixture on this yearly list, the Maltese tenor continues singing to new highs, nominated for the International Opera Awards and Classic FM Album of the Year, touring the world’s biggest stages to critical acclaim, and winning applause from the likes of Barack Obama.
Gaia Cauchi
The talented 11-year-old won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest during a performance in Kiev with her ballad The Start, and became Malta’s youngest darling... and in the process earned herself a Medalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika.
Joanne Cassar
The transgender won a long battle against the government for the right to marry her boyfriend after having gender reassignment, leading to amendments to the Civil Code. She was also controversially awarded the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika medal.
The billboard people
It was a good year for the people who endorsed the Labour Party in March’s election by appearing on the party’s electoral billboards. Many of them were given government appointments soon after Labour’s victory at the polls.
Birkirkara FC
Birkirkara captured their fourth Premier League title in May after beating Hibernians 3-1 in a championship decider. And the town partied like there’s no tomorrow. Months later they still top the league.
Jeffrey Curmi
The newly-appointed Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta had a very speedy rise to the top, with three promotions in less than four months.
A bad year for:
Arriva
Malta’s bus company will be nationalised on January 1, marking the end of the transport company’s ill-fated two-and-a-half-year journey in Malta, after racking up debts of €50 million and with its bendy buses banned from the roads over safety fears.
The Citizenship Bill
The original Citizenship Bill which allowed Maltese passports to be bought for €650,000 with no investment or residency requirements caused a major uproar both in Malta and abroad. The government was forced to amend the Bill, but many remain unhappy.
Lawrence Gonzi
The man who pulled off a historic Nationalist Party victory in 2008 presided over the PN’s worst ever post-Independence electoral result. He immediately announced his resignation as party leader.
AFM’s top brass
Widely regarded in military circles, Brigadier Martin Xuereb (pictured) was believed to have been pressured into resigning as Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta soon after Labour’s electoral victory. Deputy Commander David Attard was also unceremoniously transferred, prompting his resignation.
Nationalist Party employees
The PN’s dire financial situation caused a mass exodus of employees while many did not receive their salaries for a number of months. It was a tough price to pay after a tough electoral campaign.
Anton Refalo
After refusing to answer questions about his ministerial declaration of assets, the Gozo Minister got embroiled in controversy after a Gozo Channel ferry was ordered to return to port and pick him, and others, up. Despite calls for his resignation, Dr Refalo refused to step down.
Tancred Tabone
The former Enemalta chairman and well-respected businessman was named as one of the protagonists in an oil procurement scandal which sent shockwaves across the country.
Carol Peralta
The magistrate hit the headlines over two questionable judgments which incensed many. But those were nothing in comparison to his ill-judged decision to throw a Christmas party in a courtroom and order the arrest of a reporter, which landed him in front of the Commission for the Administration of Justice.