Election History Bites | Zero votes

Part 16 | An independent candidate holds the all-time record of having achieved no votes at all

19 May 2026, 6:00am
by Kurt Sansone

1 min read

Spiru Sant (left) singing the national anthem during an election broadcast organised by the Broadcasting Authority as the programme host looks on

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The least successful candidate of all time was Spiridione Sant, a pensioner, who in the 1987 general election contested the 1 District as an independent and received zero votes.

He remains the only election candidate ever, since 1921, to have achieved such a result.

Sant, known as Spiru, had also contested the 1987 election on the 7 District, obtaining seven votes, or 0.239% of the district quota.

A colourful character, Spiru Sant contested six consecutive elections over a 22-year span as an independent candidate. His foray into politics started in 1976 and ended in 1998 when he contested his last election. Sant never got elected. He died in 2002.

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

Kurt Sansone is Executive Editor of MaltaToday. He was formerly deputy editor of MaltaTod...