Making heads or tails of how elections are won in Malta is not complicated unless three political parties elect MPs. Kurt Sansone tries to answer some of the questions about the process.
Who wins the election?
If only two political parties elect MPs, the winner is the party with the most votes. A mechanism introduced in 2007 (to be discussed later in this article) to ensure strict proportionality between first count votes and seats in Parliament may kick in to award extra seats to both winners and losers.
What if two parties are elected to Parliament but none obtains an absolute majority of votes – 50 per cent plus 1 vote?
This changes nothing. The party with the greatest number of votes, even though it enjoys a relative majority, is the winner. This situation occurred in 2008 when the Nationalist Party won the election with a relative majority of 49.3 per cent against the Labour Party’s 48.8 per cent. However, since the PN ended up with 31 seats against Labour’s 34 seats, the proportionality mechanism kicked in and awarded four extra seats to the PN. This gave the PN a one-seat majority, reflecting the closeness of the vote.
What are these extra seats?
A constitutional change in 2007 ensured that the number of seats a political party holds would reflect its percentage of first count votes. This mechanism awards extra seats to both winners and losers after the vote counting process closes. The law also makes it clear that the total number of parliamentary seats has to be an odd number.
In the 2013 election, once the vote counting exercise ended, the Labour Party had won 39 seats, while the Nationalist Party had won 26. However, the proportion of seats won by the PL overstated the party’s electoral strength, while the PN’s seat tally understated its vote.
In accordance with the constitutional mechanism, the PN was awarded four extra seats to bring the parliamentary balance closer to the election result.
If PD candidates from the PN list are elected, they will not be considered a third party in Parliament by the Electoral Commission
What if three political parties elect Members of Parliament?
The situation gets a bit more complicated. If one of the three parties has an absolute majority (50 per cent plus 1 vote), it is assured victory through the proportional mechanism. The mechanism ensures the absolute majority party gets a majority of parliamentary seats over the other parties put together. But if none of the three obtains an absolute majority, it is the number of seats won after the vote counting process is concluded that determines which party has the parliamentary numbers to govern. In this case, no extra seats are awarded.
Is this problematic?
It is understandable to think so. Our district-based electoral system does not guarantee that the number of seats obtained by a political party reflects the number of votes it receives nationally. This is why the corrective mechanism was introduced in 2007. When the mechanism does not kick in, the seats obtained by the political parties may not reflect their actual vote tally, as has happened on several occasions. This means we can end up with the largest party in voting terms having fewer seats than the second largest party.
Who wins in this case?
Well, it is the party with the most seats that wins, however parties can also form coalitions to muster the numbers and form a workable majority.
Is this what the PN and PD have in mind if they win the election?
Not really. The two parties are saying they will work together as a coalition if PD also elects MPs. However, on the ballot sheet, candidates from the PN and PD will appear under the PN list.
For electoral purposes, the PN-PD coalition is one single party called the PN. This means that if PD candidates from the PN list are elected, they will not be considered a third party in Parliament by the Electoral Commission. Furthermore, the votes obtained by the PD candidates on the first count will be included in the PN tally. So if only MPs from the PN-PD coalition and the PL are elected to Parliament, the corrective mechanism will kick in, if need be.