# 2024 European Parliament election in Malta

The 2024 European Parliament election was held in Malta on 8 June 2024 in tandem with local elections. It was the fifth election to the European Parliament. Malta will elect 6 of the 720 Members of the European Parliament. EU citizens aged 16 and over were entitled to vote, provided they have registered to do so. Six different political parties had announced their participation, only 2 of these won seats in the last election those being the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, with 4 and 2 seats respectively.

## Outgoing standing of Maltese seats in the 2019-2024 EU Parliament

| Party | Party | Party | European Party | European Party | Outgoing delegation | Outgoing delegation |
| Party | Party | Party | European Party | European Party | Seats | Group |
| | Labour Party | Incumbent MEPs: | | PES | 4 | S&D |
| | Labour Party | Alfred Sant | | PES | 4 | S&D |
| | Labour Party | Josianne Cutajar | | PES | 4 | S&D |
| | Labour Party | Alex Agius Saliba | | PES | 4 | S&D |
| | Labour Party | Cyrus Engerer | | PES | 4 | S&D |
| | Nationalist Party | Incumbent MEPs: | | EPP | 2 | EPP |
| | Nationalist Party | Roberta Metsola | | EPP | 2 | EPP |
| | Nationalist Party | David Casa | | EPP | 2 | EPP |

### MEPs not standing for re-election

| Departing MEP | Party | EP Group | First elected | Date announced |
| Josianne Cutajar | Labour | S&D | 2019 | 15 January 2024 |
| Cyrus Engerer | Labour | S&D | 2020 | 27 April 2024 |
| Alfred Sant | Labour | S&D | 2014 | 12 March 2021 |

## Electoral system

MEPs are elected from a nationwide six-seat constituency by single transferable vote. Candidates who pass the Hagenbach-Bischoff quota in the first round are elected, and any surplus votes transferred to the remaining candidates, who will be elected if this enables them to pass the quota. The lowest ranked candidates are then eliminated one-by-one with their preferences transferred to other candidates, who are elected as they pass the quotient, until all six seats are filled.

## Participating parties/candidates

The below parties and/or independent candidates declared their participation in the upcoming European Parliament elections listed in order of candidate quantity. Times of Malta released a final list after nominations closed. A total number of 39 candidates contested this election, also a record 13 of such being independents.
| Party | Party | European Party | European Party | Quantity | Names | Election Program |
| | Labour Party | | PES | 9 | Claudette Abela Baldacchino Alex Agius Saliba Clint Azzopardi Flores Daniel Attard Thomas Bajada Jesmond Bonello Steve Ellul Jesmond Marshall Marija Sara Vella Gafà | Election Program |
| | Nationalist Party | | EPP | 8 | Roberta Metsola (incumbent-outgoing President of the EP) David Casa David Agius Peter Agius Miriana Calleja Testaferrata de Noto Norma Camilleri LouisAnne Pulis Lee Bugeja Bartolo | Election Program |
| | AD+PD | | EGP | 4 | Sandra Gauci Mina Tolu Ralph Cassar Rachelle 'REA' Deguara | Election Program |
| | Imperium Europa | | – | 2 | Norman Lowell Terrence Portelli | Election Program |
| | ABBA | | ECPM | 2 | Ivan Grech Mintoff Tania Gauci Fiorini | N/A |
| | Volt Malta | | Volt | 1 | Matthias Iannis Portelli | Election Program |
| Independent candidates or non-registered parties | Independent candidates or non-registered parties | Various or Non-inscrit | Various or Non-inscrit | 13 | Nazzareno Bonniċi ('tal-Ajkla') Arnold Cassola Edwin Vassallo James Ryder Simon Mercieca Alexander D'Agata Radu Gheorghi Stephen Florian Conrad Borg Manché Noel Apap Malcolm Bezzina George Grixti Adrian Zammit | Some of these candidates released programmes in the form of points throughout their campaigning. |
The People's Party did not put forward any candidates.

## Campaign
### ABBA

ABBA started its campaign with two events organised in conjunction with the European Christian Political Movement party on 6 April 2024 in a Qawra hotel on 'Reclaiming the power for the member states'. Two pairs of individual speakers addressed the two consecutive events which revolved around 'Sovereignty and Healthcare' and 'Education and Foreign Policy'. Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș and party leader Ivan Grech Mintoff addressed the first meeting, with Valeriu Ghilețchi and lawyer and broadcaster Emmanuel 'Emmy' Bezzina addressed the second meeting.
Four days before the election, therefore 4th June, Ivan Grech Mintoff resigned his leadership and membership of ABBA party. This comes after an open rift between Grech Mintoff and party secretary general Simon Elmer appeared on Grech Mintoff's protest method, that of egging the floor in debates he attends. Nevertheless, Grech Mintoff appeared on the ballot as a member and leader of the party.

### Volt Malta

Volt's campaign began with the adoption of their joint European election programme November 2023 in Paris, which the party shares with all other parties from Volt Europa. On 1 February 2024, Volt announced its Vice President Matthias Iannis Portelli as its first (and only) candidate for the European elections.

### Allegations of voter fraud

Maltese courts on 24 May 2024 annulled the ID card residence registration of 99 'ghost voters' who illegally changed such voter registration address to unfinished and uninhabitable flat addresses in Siġġiewi following a successful lawsuit per illegally registered voter by the Nationalist Party in opposition. The legal battle involved 22 magistrates and took three weeks. This led to housing minister Roderick Galdes being disparagingly titled 'Electoral Fraud Minister' by Opposition-affiliated media NET. This heavily implicates that the Labour Party stood to benefit from such voter address registration changes with also a win for said Labour Party further consolidated as such.

###### Voting cards issued to deceased voters

Ex-ABBA leader Ivan Grech Mintoff alleged in a debate on Maltese national broadcaster Television Malta that a voter who has been dead for two years has been issued a voting card for the 2024 election, stating "F'din l-elezzjoni ħa jerġgħu jivvotaw il-mejtin" (English: In this election, dead people are going to vote again). Newsbook confirmed said deceased voter's identity and document and stated that such cases were not isolated. The Electoral Commission did not answer questions sent by Newsbook on these concerns.

## Debates

2024 Maltese European Parliament Election debates :
| Date | Time | Organizers | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  A Absent invitee N Non-invitee |
| Date | Time | Organizers | Labour | Nationalist | IE | AD+PD | ABBA | Volt | Independents | Refs |
| 21 February | 13:00 | National Youth Council of Malta | N | P Norma Camilleri LouisAnne Pulis | N | P Ralph Cassar Mina Tolu | N | N | N | |
| 13 March | 12:30 | National Youth Council of Malta | P Steve Ellul | P Peter Agius | N | P Ralph Cassar | N | N | Arnold Cassola | |
| 22 March | 12:00 | JEF Malta | P Alex Agius Saliba Steve Ellul | P Peter Agius Norma Camilleri | A Norman Lowell | P Sandra Gauci | P Ivan Grech Mintoff | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | Arnold Cassola | |
| 3 April | 13:00 | National Youth Council of Malta | P Thomas Bajada | P Lee Bugeja Bartolo | N | P Sandra Gauci | N | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | Arnold Cassola | |
| 12 April | 9:05 | Malta Chamber of Commerce | P Thomas Bajada | P Norma Camilleri | P Terrence Portelli | N | N | N | N | |
| 12 April | 9:55 | Malta Chamber of Commerce | P Steve Ellul | P David Agius | N | P Ralph Cassar | N | N | N | |
| 24 April | 8:30 | Malta Chamber of Commerce | P Steve Ellul | P Peter Agius | N | N | N | N | Arnold Cassola | |
| 2 May | 12:30 | MUDU | P Daniel Attard Marija Sara Vella Gafà | P Peter Agius Miriana Calleja Testaferrata de Noto | A Norman Lowell OR Terrence Portelli | P Mina Tolu | P Ivan Grech Mintoff | N | Arnold Cassola James Ryder Conrad Borg Manché | |
| 10 May | 16:00 | National Youth Council of Malta MaltaDaily | P Daniel Attard Steve Ellul Thomas Bajada | P Norma Camilleri Lee Bugeja Bartolo A Peter Agius | P Terrence Portelli | P Sandra Gauci Mina Tolu Ralph Cassar | P Ivan Grech Mintoff A Tania Gauci Fiorini | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | Arnold Cassola James Ryder | |
| 14 May | 17:00 | LovinMalta MaltaToday | P Steve Ellul | P Lee Bugeja Bartolo | N | P Ralph Cassar | N | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | Simon Mercieca | |
| 17 May | 9:00 | Malta Chamber of Commerce | N | N | N | N | A Ivan Grech Mintoff | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | Simon Mercieca Radu Gheorghe | |
| 17 May | 10:00 | Malta Chamber of Commerce | N | N | N | N | N | N | Malcolm Bezzina James Ryder Alexander D'Agata Stephen Florian | |
| 21 May | 11:55 | Newsbook/RTK | P Steve Ellul | P LouisAnne Pulis | N | N | P Ivan Grech Mintoff | N | Edwin Vassallo | |
| 21 May | 17:00 | LovinMalta MaltaToday | P Thomas Bajada | P Norma Camilleri | N | P Ralph Cassar | N | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | Arnold Cassola | |
| 22 May | 21:00 | TVM | N | N | N | N | N | N | Nazzareno Bonniċi ('tal-Ajkla') Edwin Vassallo James Michael Muscat Simon Mercieca Alexander D'Agata Radu Gheorghi Stephen Florian Conrad Borg Manché Noel Apap Malcolm Bezzina Adrian Zammit | |
| 28 May | 12:00 | Newsbook/RTK | P Alex Agius Saliba | P David Agius | N | P Mina Tolu | N | P Matthias Iannis Portelli | James Ryder | |

## Opinion polls

It is not uncommon for smaller parties to be grouped together or excluded in polls by Maltese media houses.
| | Polling firm | Sample size | | | | | ABBA | | IND/ Others | Lead | Not voting | Don't know/ Invalid |
| 30 May–04 June 2024 | L-Orizzont | 1,800 | 50.9 | 40.1 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 10.8 | 31 | 33 Invalid |
| 22 May–04 June 2024 | MaltaToday | 1,007 | 43.3 | 48.1 | 1.9 | 0.6 | - | - | 6.2 | 4.8 | – | – |
| 3–10 May 2024 | MaltaToday | 657 | 49.4 | 41.7 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 7.7 | 30.6 | – |
| 6–10 May 2024 | It-Torċa | 1,000 | 51.5 | 40.3 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 11.2 | 31 | – |
| 15–24 April 2024 | MaltaToday | 656 | 50.7 | 44.2 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 6.5 | 29 | – |
| 1–13 April 2024 | Esprimi | 600 | 45.4 | 38.0 | 3.2 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 7.4 | – | 41.0 |
| 7 March - 21 March 2024 | MaltaToday | 657 | 52.8 | 42.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 10.2 | 23.4 | – |
| 27 Feb – 12 Mar 2024 | Esprimi/Times of Malta | 600 | 52.4 | 39.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 13.1 | 33 | – |
| 26 Jan–05 Feb 2024 | MaltaToday | 647 | 47.9 | 41.0 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 6.9 | 37.5 | – |
| 26 Mar 2022 | 2022 Maltese general election | – | 55.1 | 41.7 | n/a | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 13.4 | 24.4 | 2.9 |
| 25 May 2019 | 2019 European Parliament election in Malta | – | 54.3 | 37.9 | 3.17 | 2.7 | 0.5 | n/a | 1.2 | 16.4 | 27.3 | 2.6 |

## Results

Polls opened and closed on 8 June at 7am and 10pm CET respectively. Following the closing of the polls, all ballot boxes were sealed and transported to the vote counting complex in Naxxar. The count was conducted between 9.30am and 10pm when the results were revealed.
Heavy speculation on whether the supermajority lead that the Labour Party has over the Nationalist Party will prevail or not dominated Maltese media reports. Final reports showed that the Labour Party won the election again, however at the expense of its majority decimated to 8,500 votes.
| Party | Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
| | Labour Party | 117,805 | 45.26 | –9.03 | 3 | –1 |
| | Nationalist Party | 109,351 | 42.02 | +7.12 | 3 | +1 |
| | Arnold Cassola | 12,706 | 4.88 | +3.69 | 0 | 0 |
| | Imperium Europa | 6,816 | 2.62 | –0.55 | 0 | 0 |
| | Conrad Borg Manché | 5,936 | 2.28 | New | 0 | New |
| | AD+PD | 3,109 | 1.19 | –1.56 | 0 | 0 |
| | ABBA | 527 | 0.20 | –0.26 | 0 | 0 |
| | Volt Malta | 298 | 0.11 | New | 0 | New |
| | Other Independents | 3,710 | 1.43 | +1.22 | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 260,258 | 100.00 | – | 6 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 260,258 | 96.34 | | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 9,884 | 3.66 | | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 270,142 | 100.00 | | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 370,184 | 72.98 | | | |
| Source: Electoral Commission of Malta |||||||

### By candidate

| Count # | Candidate | Party | FPV | FPV% | Outcome |
| 1 | Roberta Metsola | Nationalist | 87,473 | 33.61% | Elected through first-preference votes |
| 1 | Alex Agius Saliba | Labour | 63,899 | 24.55% | Elected through first-preference votes |
| 3 | George Grixti | Independent | 20 | 0.01% | Eliminated with 22 transferred votes |
| 4 | Malcolm Bezzina | Independent | 37 | 0.01% | Eliminated with 40 transferred votes |
| 5 | Radu Gheorghi | Independent | 50 | 0.02% | Eliminated with 56 transferred votes |
| 6 | Stephen Florian | Independent | 57 | 0.02% | Eliminated with 69 transferred votes |
| 7 | Alexander D'Agata | Independent | 84 | 0.03% | Eliminated with 98 transferred votes |
| 8 | Noel Apap | Independent | 143 | 0.05% | Eliminated with 154 transferred votes |
| 9 | Terrence Portelli | Imperium Europa | 147 | 0.06% | Eliminated with 158 transferred votes |
| 10 | Mina Tolu | AD+PD | 187 | 0.07% | Eliminated with 215 transferred votes |
| 11 | Ivan Grech Mintoff | ABBA | 220 | 0.08% | Eliminated with 232 transferred votes |
| 12 | Simon Mercieca | Independent | 232 | 0.09% | Eliminated with 281 transferred votes |
| 13 | Nazzareno Bonniċi | Independent | 206 | 0.08% | Eliminated with 289 transferred votes |
| 14 | Matthias Iannis Portelli | Volt Malta | 298 | 0.11% | Eliminated with 343 transferred votes |
| 15 | Rachelle Deguara | AD+PD | 286 | 0.11% | Eliminated with 369 transferred votes |
| 16 | Tania Gauci Fiorini | ABBA | 307 | 0.12% | Eliminated with 468 transferred votes |
| 17 | Ralph Cassar | AD+PD | 474 | 0.18% | Eliminated with 715 transferred votes |
| 18 | Adrian Zammit | Independent | 579 | 0.22% | Eliminated with 722 transferred votes |
| 19 | Jesmond Marshall | Labour | 685 | 0.26% | Eliminated with 873 transferred votes |
| 20 | Edwin Vassallo | Independent | 717 | 0.28% | Eliminated with 902 transferred votes |
| 21 | Miriana Calleja Testaferrata de Noto | Nationalist | 460 | 0.18% | Eliminated with 1,130 transferred votes |
| 22 | Jesmond Bonello | Labour | 858 | 0.33% | Eliminated with 1,264 transferred votes |
| 23 | Lee Bugeja Bartolo | Nationalist | 677 | 0.26% | Eliminated with 1,697 transferred votes |
| 24 | Louis Anne Pulis | Nationalist | 657 | 0.25% | Eliminated with 1,896 transferred votes |
| 25 | James Muscat | Independent | 1,585 | 0.61% | Eliminated with 2,244 transferred votes |
| 26 | Sandra Gauci | AD+PD | 2,162 | 0.83% | Eliminated with 3,603 transferred votes |
| 27 | Norma Camilleri | Nationalist | 1,132 | 0.43% | Eliminated with 3,964 transferred votes |
| 28 | Marija Sara Vella Gafà | Labour | 3,442 | 1.32% | Eliminated with 5,245 transferred votes |
| 29 | Conrad Borg Manché | Independent | 5,936 | 2.28% | Eliminated with 7,641 transferred votes |
| 30 | Norman Lowell | Imperium Europa | 6,669 | 2.56% | Eliminated with 8,577 transferred votes |
| 31 | Clint Azzopardi Flores | Labour | 7,482 | 2.87% | Eliminated with 12,951 transferred votes |
| 32 | David Agius | Nationalist | 5,851 | 2.25% | Eliminated with 15,840 transferred votes |
| 33 | Steve Ellul | Labour | 9,643 | 3.71% | Eliminated with 17,846 transferred votes |
| 34 | Arnold Cassola | Independent | 12,706 | 4.88% | Eliminated with 22,941 transferred votes |
| 35 | Peter Agius | Nationalist | 9,418 | 3.62% | Elected with 38,236 transferred votes |
| 35 | David Casa | Nationalist | 3,683 | 1.42% | Elected with 37,623 transferred votes |
| 37 | Daniel Attard | Labour | 11,703 | 4.50% | Elected with 34,764 transferred votes |
| 37 | Thomas Bajada | Labour | 10,792 | 4.15% | Elected with 25,047 transferred votes |
| 37 | Claudette Abela Baldacchino | Labour | 9,301 | 3.57% | Eliminated with 24,493 transferred votes |