One more female PN MP could mean fewer gender mechanism seats

If the Nationalist Party on Tuesday elects one woman through the casual elections, the gender mechanism might not be required to elect the maximum 12 female MPs.

After four female Labour candidates were on Friday elected in casual elections, the number of women MPs rose to 14. If one more female MP is elected on Tuesday, the mechanism is likely to return 10 additional women to parliament instead of 12.

This depends on how the Constitution is interpreted by the Electoral Commission and the party representatives.

The mechanism is triggered when women make up less than 40% of elected MPs from parties that secure seats in parliament. After the 30 May election, parliament is made up of 67 seats, with 40% of this equating to 26.8 seats.

If after the PN casual elections parliament has 15 female MPs, an additional 12 would mathematically, and possibly legally, surpass the constitutional requirement. If this interpretation holds, then only 10 additional seats, five on either side, would be added through the gender mechanism.

Naomi Cachia (top left), Rebecca Buttigieg (top right), Mariah Meli (bottom left) and Ramona Attard (bottom right) were elected in Labour's casual elections on Friday (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

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However, if the number of seats, equivalent to 40%, is rounded up to 27, the maximum number of seats contemplated by the gender mechanism would apply. This would equate to 12 additional seats, six on either side.

Parliament currently consists of 67 MPs following the application of the proportionality mechanism, which attributed two additional seats to the Nationalist Party. Based on the current composition, women account for 14 of those seats after Labour's casual elections. Ramona Attard, Naomi Cachia, Mariah Meli and Rebecca Buttigieg were elected through casual elections on Friday.

The mechanism was introduced through constitutional reforms approved in 2021 and was first used after the 2022 general election. The measure aims to increase female representation in the House of Representatives, where women have historically been underrepresented.

The Nationalist Party will hold its casual elections on Tuesday, so far, Graziella Attard Previ is the only woman candidate who has submitted her nomination. Nominations remain open until Saturday.

Successful gender mechanism

This year’s election showed the gender mechanism has proved successful in helping women get into parliament. Of the 14 women elected into parliament on their own steam, five were elected through the mechanism in 2022.

In 2022, only four women were elected before casual elections and the gender corrective mechanism came into effect, marking a 20-year low for female representation.

At the same time, the increase in female representation has also coincided with a steady rise in the number of women contesting elections.

Women candidates accounted for 29.2% of all candidates in 2026, up from 24.6% in 2022. This is a substantial improvement when you take into account it was just 11.1% in 2008.