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Malta’s Labour Party won an unprecedented fourth term on Sunday, securing victory in a snap election called by outgoing Prime Minister Robert Abela amid geopolitical uncertainties.
Fireworks erupted across the tiny Mediterranean island as ecstatic Labour supporters dressed in the party’s red chanted “four times!” after preliminary results gave the election to the governing party.
“I’ve voted Labour since I was a little girl, I’m thrilled they’ve made history,” 73-year-old Margaret Camilleri told AFP, as Labour supporters drove past on a truck blaring the song “We are the Champions.”
Abela, 48, had sent the country to the polls a year early, arguing that the government needed a fresh mandate to shield the import-heavy island from the Middle East crisis.
While Malta’s economy grew 4.0 percent last year, there are concerns that the conflict could impact tourism due to spiralling aviation fuel costs and drive up inflation.
Abela campaigned on Labour’s economic record since 2013, pledging stability in a period of uncertainty.
“All indications appear to show that the Malta Labour party has made history, winning four elections in a row,” he said.
His main rival was Nationalist Party (PN) candidate Alex Borg, a 30-year-old lawyer and former “Mr World Malta” beauty pageant winner, who has urged the Maltese to vote for change.
Borg conceded Sunday, saying in an address posted on social media that he had “personally called Robert Abela to congratulate him” on the win.
Since his predecessor resigned in 2020 due to a political crisis over the 2017 assassination of reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, who revealed corruption at the highest levels of the nation, Abela has been Malta’s leader.
Malta is still far behind in the fight against corruption, according to a 2025 Council of Europe report; however, the issue did not receive much attention during the campaign.
