It was the unexpected which dominated the legislature which is now coming to an end.

When people cast their votes on March 8, 2008, few would have thought that this would be a legislature dominated by legislation on divorce, controversy over ministerial pay and the bus service and divisions within the Nationalist Party.

Arguments over power tariffs were to be expected, and there were plenty of them over the past four-and-a-half years, but the controversy with regard to power generation was also dominated by the government’s decision to grant the power station extension contract to BWSC and the fact that the new plant would use heavy fuel oil.

No party managed to win an absolute majority in the election of March 2008 but the PN won a relative majority of just 1,500 votes – and a one seat majority in parliament.

The problems caused by that narrow margin were to plague the administration throughout the legislature.

SANT RESIGNS, MUSCAT TAKES OVER

Alfred Sant resigned his leadership of the Labour Party soon after the 2008 election results were announced. Joseph Muscat, then an MEP, won the leadership election to succeed him. He was co-opted to Parliament in October 2008.

In April 2009, George Abela, runner-up in the Labour Party leadership election, was appointed President, succeeding Eddie Fenech Adami.

EARLY PROBLEMS

Early on, the government suffered the first problem caused by its narrow majority when it was forced to withdraw plans to build an underground museum at St John’s Co-Cathedral when Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando threatened to back an opposition motion in parliament to stop the project.

Later on, Dr Pullicino Orlando dropped a bombshell when he presented a private member’s motion for the introduction of divorce. With Joseph Muscat announcing his backing to it, the government found itself with little room for manoeuvre. A referendum was called, the introduction of divorce was backed by a wide margin (by Maltese standards) and divorce made it into the statute books, even though the Prime Minister voted against it in Parliament.

The government was later also embarrassed when another of its MPs, Franco Debono first abstained in a confidence vote in minister Austin Gatt and then backed the opposition in voting against Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, forcing his resignation. 

Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta’s representative to the EU, was also forced to resign after Dr Pullicino Orlando voted against and former PN minister Jesmond Mugliett abstained.

Franco Debono ultimately brought down the government when he voted against the Budget for 2013.

LABOUR WINS MEP ELECTIONS

The Labour Party enjoyed a major victory in the 2009 elections to the European Parliament, grabbing four of the six seats at stake.

That year saw then Social Policy Minister John Dalli pilot a major reform of the rent laws, an issue which several governments had avoided. Mr Dalli later stepped down from the Cabinet, resigned his seat in Parliament and was appointed European Commissioner. He was later to resign from the Commission and be replaced by Tonio Borg.

MAJOR GOVERNMENT REFORMS

The Rent Law reform was among the earliest of this legislature, but far from the only one. Another big one was the bus service reform, with Arriva taking over the service amid much controversy over the service and routes. The rumbles continue to this day.

Loss-making Malta Shipyards was privatised, being sold to Palumbo after most of the workers left following generous early retirement schemes. Similar schemes were also offered to many Air Malta workers when the airline ran into financial turbulence in 2011 and needed to be restructured after approval by the EU of a restructuring programme. The process is still underway.

The government also reformed local councils, extending their term by a year (to four) and giving them more responsibilities.

No progress was made in plans to reform primary health care, and problems involving hospital services were never far from the headlines in the past few years. The planned acquisition of St Philip’s Hospital by the government was a case in point.

Another major reform involved Mepa, with the accent being on greater transparency and faster processing of development applications.

Other landmark legislation included a law to allow parole for prisoners and a law to regulate assisted procreation, better known as the IVF law. However the legislative programme tailed off in the last year of the legislature when differences with Dr Debono meant that hardly any votes were held in parliament.

CITY GATE PROJECT

Among the most controversial infrastructural projects of this legislature was the City Gate project, designed by Renzo Piano. The project, including the demolition of City Gate, the building of a Parliament House and an Open Theatre, continued to be criticised for cost and design.

Other projects included the rehabilitation of St George’s Square, major restoration of the bastions and the rebuilding of several arterial roads including Valletta Road to Zurrieq, Garibaldi Road and Council of Europe Road, the road to Cirkewwa and the road from Mgarr to Victoria in Gozo. The passenger terminal at Cirkewwa was finally (almost) completed.

Controversial plans to run a new road behind Ghadira Bay made no progress.

Other projects included the building of several large schools in various localities, with the government committed to opening at least one new school a year.

It also started the building of a new Oncology Hospital which will take over the services of Boffa Hospital.

EURO CRISIS

Among the unexpected during this legislature were the financial and euro crises and the Arab Spring.

The financial crisis was felt all over the world, including Malta, and was blamed here for the fact that the government was unable to reduce income tax by as much as it promised in 2008 – although several tax incentives were announced. The economy briefly slipped into recession but recovered and the country was able to maintain unemployment at manageable levels and also reduce the deficit to below three per cent of GDP.

The Arab Spring, particularly the uprising in Libya, saw the government taking a major role in organising a workers’ evacuation from Libya while it also struggled, successfully it seems, to safeguard Maltese business interests in the north African state.