In the 1950s and 1960s a number of smaller parties secured a substantial number of votes and some seats in the legislature. These smaller parties included the Constitutionalists, the Gozo Party, the Maltese Workers Party, the Democratic Action Party and the Christian Workers Party. None of them lasted for more than a few years. Political competition in Malta is marked by a high degree of partisanship. In tense partisanship goes hand in hand with a high voter turnout at elections.
Maltese voters have the highest turnout figures of all Western democracies.
Also, they show their partisan commitment at election time by the remaining impressively loyal to thei r political party. While political competition is vigorous and boisterous, none of the Maltese parties preach revolutionary change. Unlike some other European countries, Malta has not had to contend with anti-regime parties that threatened the political system itself. All elections since 1971 have been close contests between the two major parties, wi th the result that parliamentary majorities for the parties have been razor-thin. The same situation occurred again in 1987 and once more in 1996, but by then a newly adopted constitutional a mendment provided that the party with a majority of the popular vote would be awarded a sufficient number of additional seats to give it a legislative majority.