Third-party vote inches up to 10,869, but gains remain minimal

In the 2026 general election, the collective third-party vote amounted to 10,869 votes (3.5%), with the vote largely split between Momentum (4,700 votes) and ADPD (3,996), while the right-wing conservative Ahwa Maltin obtained 1,845 votes.

While Momentum which was founded in 2025 managed to surpass the more established ADPD, both parties recorded low results of 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively.

Overall the overall score did not  represent any major improvement over 2022, when 9,308 voters (3.1%)  supported third parties.

Compared to 2022  the centre left third parties together saw their tally increase from 6,033 (ADPD, Arnold Cassola and Volt) to 8696.

Neither did Ahwa Maltin significantly increase its vote share from that of its progenitor, the Partit Popolari, which had gained 1,533 votes in 2022 in an election that was also contested by the Christian conservative ABBA Party, which had obtained 1,364 votes.

This means that the combined right-wing conservative vote declined from 2,897 to 1,845, possibly because of a drift to the right in both major parties on issues such as opposition to the construction of new mosques.

One clear loser was the far-right Imperium Europa, whose candidate Eman Cross managed to secure only 167 votes in the two districts contested (105 in the 1 district and just 62 on the 9 district).

Arnold Cassola’s 1,517 votes

Momentum leader Arnold Cassola managed to obtain 1,517 first-count votes across the two districts he contested. On these two districts, Cassola accounted for nearly a third of his party’s total vote tally.

Significantly, in the 10 district, Cassola was one of the last candidates to be eliminated, on the 24th count, when his vote tally had increased to a remarkable 1,016 votes thanks to a steady, albeit limited, flow of transfers.

In the 9 district, Cassola started with 722 first-count votes, which increased to 971 by the 21st count, when he was eliminated.

Mark Camilleri Gambin was Momentum’s second most voted candidate securing a total of 979 first-count votes across two districts (440 votes from 3 district and 539 votes from 11 district).

Sandra Gauci’s 968 votes

ADPD fared best in the 12 district, where its leader Sandra Gauci saw her vote increase from 513 in the first count to 950 by the seventeenth count.

Gauci also benefitted from 117 vote transfers from PN leader Alex Borg.

Gauci had also contested the 6 district, where she obtained 455 first-count votes, increasing to 594 by the twelfth count. These included no major vote transfers except 56 from Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg.

In total, Gauci managed to win 968 first-count votes across both districts. These amounted to nearly a quarter of ADPD’s total tally.