Election History Bites | Popular election months

Malta has no fixed election date with the Constitution granting the prime minister prerogative when to call an election, unless the five-year term is up or government loses a vote of no confidence in parliament.

This year’s May election will be the 26 electoral appointment since 1921.

January is the only month in which no election has ever been held. Every other month has, at some point in history, hosted an election with March and June being the two most popular months with four electoral appointments in each.

March general elections were held in 1966 (won by the Nationalist Party), 2008 (Nationalist Party), 2013 (Labour Party) and 2022 (Labour Party). June general elections were held in 1924 (Unione Politica Maltese), 1932 (Nationalist Party), 1971 (Labour Party) and 2017 (Labour Party).

The months that come next in line with three general elections each are February (1955, 1962, 1992), September (1950, 1976, 1998) and October (1921, 1947, 1996). May joins this club as a result of this year’s general election, which will be held on Saturday 30 May.

Previous May elections were held in 1951 (Nationalist Party in coalition with Malta Workers Party) and 1987 (Nationalist Party).

Election History Bites is a series of election-inspired stories that will be published from Monday to Friday every morning throughout the election campaign