Election History Bites | PN born from merger

The Nationalist Party (PN) as we know it today was born 100 years ago, on 16 January 1926 following the merger of the Unione Politica Maltese (UPM) under Francesco Buhagiar and the Partito Democratico Nazionalista (PDN) under Enrico Mizzi.

The PN officially considers its foundation year as 1880 with the birth of Fortunato Mizzi’s Anti-Reform Party but this was eventually dissolved and re-founded as the PDN. Some consider this as the natural precursor of the PN, however, it was only after the 1926 merger that the PN started to exist as a distinct entity that persisted throughout history.

The names of the two parties that merged, reflected their respective inclinations towards Italy and its culture. The parties also wanted Italian to be put on the same footing as English and Maltese. Indeed, this pro-Italian inclination was imported into the PN and became a problem for the British colonialists later when fascist Italy became a rising force in the Mediterranean basin.

The merger of the UPM and PDN took place two years into the 1924 legislature. In that election the UPM obtained 27.2% of the vote and 10 seats in the legislative assembly. The DNP obtained 17.4% and five seats. After the election, the UPM formed a minority government with the DNP. They merged in 1926 and the newly-founded Nationalist Party contested its first election in 1927.

Initially, the party had two co-leaders, Ugo Mifsud and Enrico Mizzi, who hailed from either of the two previous parties.

In 1927, the PN obtained 41.6% of the vote and 13 seats and ended in Opposition since the Constitutional Party and the Labour Party formed a coalition government.

In the next election in 1932, the PN obtained its best-ever result—59.6% of the vote and 21 seats out of 32. However, the legislature was interrupted when the British suspended the Constitution, fearing the actions of the pro-Italian PN government at a time when fascist Italy was increasingly adopting an expansionist view in Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.

In the 1939 election for the 10-member Council of Government, which replaced the legislative assembly, the PN obtained 33.1% of the vote and three seats. One of the elected PN members was Ugo Mifsud who suffered a heart attack in February 1942, during a heated debate on the British government’s intention to deport Maltese citizens to Uganda on suspicion of anti-British and pro-Italian activities. The deportations were carried out without due process. Mifsud died two days later. The PN’s other co-leader, Enrico Mizzi, was deported, leaving the party without its leaders and forcing it not to contest the 1945 election for the Council of Government.

It was in the post-war election of 1947, after the Constitution was restored, that the PN under Enrico Mizzi contested once again, obtaining 18.1% of the vote and seven seats out of 40. It managed to stay ahead of a splinter party called the Democratic Action Party.

The PN kept increasing its share of the vote in each and every election that took place afterwards but it took 34 years to obtain its second absolute majority since its founding. This happened in 1981 when it won 50.9% of the vote. In the 1950s, the PN formed three short-lived coalition governments with the Malta Workers Party. It was in government again in 1962, 1966, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2003 and 2008.

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