Momentum ousts ADPD as Malta\u2019s third most popular political party<\/p>\n
Malta’s small political parties registered their best showing in a general election in a long time, as almost 11,000 people put their number 1 vote towards a non-PL or PN option.<\/p>\n
Malta’s small parties, however, will have mixed feelings over the results and their respective performances.<\/p>\n
The new party Momentum emerged as the country’s third most popular political party, with 4,700 votes to its name.<\/p>\n
The party’s chairperson Arnold Cassola was Momentum’s most popular candidate, as he received 722 first count votes on the 9th district and 795 votes on the 10th district. <\/p>\n
He closed his performance after being knocked out on the 20th count with 971 votes on the former district and on the 24th count with 1,016 votes on the latter district.<\/p>\n
There were also other notable performances for Momentum’s new candidates too though. <\/p>\n
Momentum Secretary General Mark Camilleri Gambin achieved 440 votes in the 3rd district – which climbed to 659 votes by the 10th count when he was knocked out – and 539 votes in the 11th district – which rose to 768 votes by the 5th count when he was knocked out.<\/p>\n
Matthew Agius was the party’s next best performing candidate, as he achieved 409 votes on the 8th district – making it to 765 votes by the 16th count – and 224 votes on the 2nd district – which became 287 by the 11th count.<\/p>\n
ADPD – The Green Party will be more disappointed with its performance. It’s finally tally of 3,996 votes was both worse off than Momentum and worse off than its performance in the 2022 election, where the party won 4,747 votes.<\/p>\n
Party leader Sandra Gauci was ADPD’s best performer. She garnered 513 first count votes on the 12th district, which then became 950 votes by the time she was knocked out on the 17th count. Her performance on the 6th district saw her gain 455 first count votes, which rose to 594 by the 11th count when she was knocked out of the running.<\/p>\n
Mario Mallia was the next best performing candidate as he gathered 415 votes in the 8th district, before being knocked out with 475 votes to his name on the 13th count; and he had 317 votes on the 2nd district, before being knocked out with 545 votes on the 15th count.<\/p>\n
Former leader Carmelo Cacopardo had very similar performances in his two districts: 330 votes in the 11th district and 339 votes in the 7th district. In the 11th district, he was knocked out on the 3rd count with 340 votes, and he lasted till the 11th count on the 7th district, when he bowed out with 545 votes.<\/p>\n
The result is likely to cause some soul searching exercises for Malta’s traditional green party. Gauci has already said that she is set to take a break from politics, while its Public Relations Officer – and candidate – Brian Decelies has also announced that he will be stepping away from the party.<\/p>\n
Aħwa Maltin was the country’s 5th most popular political party, and it received 1,845 first count votes from candidates across all districts.<\/p>\n
That translates to only 0.6% of the electorate – but it is also an improvement over the 1,533 votes that the Partit Popolari (the current party’s previous iteration) had received in 2022.<\/p>\n
Finally, Imperium Europa contested a general election for the first time since 2008. The party’s leader Eman Cross was its only candidate, and he contested on the 1st and 9th districts, achieving a total of 167 votes across both of them.<\/p>\n
It’s not much, but it’s also almost exactly double the 84 votes that the party received when it last contested a general election in 2008.<\/p>\n
Perennial independent candidate Nazzareno Bonnici – better known as Zaren tal-Ajkla – received 117 votes across two districts, and independent candidate Noel Apap received 44 votes across two districts.<\/p>\n
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