SHARECountry Data
Malta (Republic of Malta) has a Unicameral parliament with the use of voluntary party quotas and legislated quotas for the single/lower house. 22 of 79 (28%) seats in the Il-Kamra Tad-Deputati / House of Representatives are held by women.
At a glance
Structure of Parliament: Unicameral
Are there legislated quotas...
- For the Single/Lower House? Yes
- For the Sub-National Level? No
Are there voluntary quotas...
- Adopted by political parties? Yes
Is there additional information?...
- Yes
Last updated: Jun 14, 2022
Single/Lower House
Il-Kamra Tad-Deputati / House of Representatives
| Total seats | 79 |
| Total Women | 22 |
| % Women | 28% |
| Election Year | 2022 |
| Electoral System | STV |
| Quota Type | Legislated Candidate Quotas |
| Election details | IDEA Voter Turnout - IPU Parline |
| Legal source | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas | Constitution | In the event that the number of Members of Parliament of the under-represented sex, elected by virtue of article 52, inclusive of those members elected at a casual election interms of the relevant regulations, is less than forty per cent (40%) of all the Members of Parliament, then the number of Members of Parliament shall increase by not more than twelve (12) Members of the under-represented sex (Art. 52, Constitution of Malta and the General Elections (Amendment) Act, 2021). |
| Legal sanctions for non-compliance | No data available | |
| Rank order/placement rules | Yes | Provided that in the event that the number of candidates established under this article is not reached, following the application of the preceding sub-article, such candidates belonging to the under-represented sex shall be declared by the Electoral Commission to be elected to fill the remaining additional seats created by this article who, being candidates of the party which is to be credited with the additional seats, were ranked on a national basis by the Electoral Commission with the highest or next higher number of percentage quota obtained on the basis of their respective final count vote before elimination in relation to the quota of the electoral division contested (Art. 52A.(2) Constitution of Malta and the General Elections (Amendment) Act, 2021). |
| Is the provision of direct public funding to political parties related to gender equality among candidates? | No | See more in International IDEA's Political Finance database |
| Are there provisions for other financial advantages to encourage gender equality in political parties? | No | See more in International IDEA's Political Finance database |
Voluntary Political Party Quotas*
| Party | Official name | Details, Quota provisions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | Partit Laburista [MLP] | The Party must take every measure to reach the goal of having 40 percent of each sex (40%) representation in the General Conference in accordance with the regulations on elections (Ch. 4. Art. 9 Labor Party Statutes). |
* Only political parties represented in parliament are included. When a country has legislated quotas in place, only political parties that have voluntary quotas that exceed the percentage/number of the national quota legislation are presented in this table.
Additional Information
"Single-Transferable Vote (STV) has been in use in Maltese elections since 1921, long before this small Mediterranean Island nation achieved independence from Britain in 1964. Although Malta subsequently became a republic and replaced the office of Governor-General (representative of the Queen) with a President, it retained the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy. The constitution mandates election of the members of the House of Representatives, Malta's unicameral parliament, 'upon the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.' The maximum length of a parliamentary term is five years, but the legislature may be dissolved earlier. There are no other elective offices except for local councils introduced by the 1993 Local Councils Act, whose members are elected by STV as well. For purposes of parliamentary election the country is currently divided into 13 divisions, all of which is of roughly the same population size." (AceProject, n.d.)
"In January 2021, the Maltese Parliament approved on second reading reforms to the constitution as well as the law on elections that seek to enhance women’s representation in parliament and the Electoral Commission. The proposed reforms have received cross-party support and are set to be approved with the required two-thirds majority in the next stages.
The proposed constitutional changes before parliament are driven by a stark statistic: only nine of Malta’s current 67 members of parliament (MPs) are women, putting the country the second from lowest, after Hungary, for proportion of women MPs in Europe. This is reflected in the female employment rate of just 63 percent, which is among the bottom five in the European Union." (Borg, V. P., 2021)
Sources
LEGAL SOURCES:
- Constitution of Malta (rev. 2019) (English version)
- General Elections Act (English version)
OTHER SOURCES:
- Europe Institute for Gender Equality - Malta Country Profile
Additional reading
- Calleja, L. (January 12, 2021). Equality commission says gender quotas necessary to break status quo, youth council differs. MaltaToday. [Last accessed: 2021-11-16]
- Borg, V. P. (February 19, 2021). Malta's proposed gender top-up system: Good intentions, questionable means? ConstitutionNet. [Last accessed: 2021-11-16]
- Cutajar, J. (2014). Women and political participation in Malta.
- Lane, J. C. (1995). The election of women under proportional representation: The case of Malta. State University of New York at Buffalo.
- Malta Parliament website
- National Council of Women of Malta
- European Institute for Gender Equality (n.d.). A party strategy to increase women’s political representation. [Last accessed: 2021-11-16).