Four Women Elected, Down From 2017 – But 12 Seats Could Be Added Under Malta’s Gender Quota
Just four women were elected after the first round of voting in Malta’s general election, less than a year after a gender-corrective mechanism was introduced into the parliamentary system.
The Labour Party elected three MPs compared to the PN’s one. Alison Zerafa Civelli (District 2), Miriam Dalli (District 5 and 11), Julia Farrugia Portelli (District 7) and Graziella Galea (District 12) all made it to the parliamentary floor at the first time of asking, down from the seven female MPs elected in 2017.
Casual elections could see more women elected to parliament after incumbent MPs Claudette Buttigieg, Rosianne Cutajar and Maria Deguara failed to get elected this time around.
There was a strong field of female candidates during this election, but newcomers like Eve Borg Bonello, Emma Portelli Bonnici, Naomi Cachia, Cressida Galea, Rebekah Cilia, Mary Muscat, Julie Zahra, Alicia Bugeja Said and Rebecca Buttigieg also failed to get elected after the count.
It looks almost guaranteed that the newly-introduced gender corrective mechanism will have a major bearing on the final list of Maltese MPs.
Up to 12 seats can be added if women make up less than 40% of parliament. The PL and PN can get up to six seats each. Unelected female candidates will be ranked according to the number of votes they received by the time they were knocked out of the race and picked accordingly.
As things stand, 12 seats are going to be added, potentially making the next legislature the most bloated parliament in history.
Malta is one of the worst countries for women’s political participation in the European bloc. And the results beg the question of whether the parties themselves are doing enough to push female candidates, with the number of women elected into parliament actually dropping from 2017.
Despite the introduction of the mechanism, people in Malta have continued to vote for male candidates rather than their female counterparts.
Why do you think so few women were elected?
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