WATCH | Abela keeps people guessing on general election date

Prime Minister Robert Abela refused to say whether he would be calling an election in the coming months.

“I have been hearing dates from everywhere. I have always been clear the election is my prerogative and it will be called when it best serves the country’s interest,” he told journalists outside parliament.

On Sunday, MaltaToday reported how strategy meetings have been taking place at the Labour headquarters, as the party readies itself for the election.

Earlier this year in an exchange with the MaltaToday newsroom, Abela said he wanted the government to present its last budget of this legislature in October, effectively ruling out an election this year. However, he did introduce a caveat, citing international instability as a possible reason to call the election this year “if it is in the national interest”. 

The latest controversy involving Judge Lawrence Mintoff also gave a glimpse of Abela’s possible timeline. In his explosive sworn declaration to ministers, Mintoff alleged that Abela had told him he wanted the new chief justice to be appointed after the next election, indicating March 2027 as a possibility. 

Nonetheless, Mintoff’s unprecedented letter, which includes serious accusations about the prime minister’s conduct as a lawyer, has opened Pandora’s Box. This, coupled with the political bickering over the appointment of a new chief justice, has raised the political temperature and fuelled speculation that an election announcement could be imminent. 

The next general election has to be held at the latest possible in June next year.