Malta’s government structure is a Westminster-style parliamentary republic: a ceremonial President serves as head of state, real executive power sits with a Prime Minister and Cabinet drawn from Parliament, a single elected chamber makes the laws, and an independent judiciary interprets a written constitution that an ordinary majority cannot rewrite. Malta has operated under this framework since independence in 1964, with EU membership since 2004 adding a further layer of obligations above domestic law.
The Constitution and How It Can Be Changed
The Constitution of Malta is the country’s supreme law. It lays out the state across chapters for the President, Parliament, the Executive, and the Judiciary, and it entrenches a bill of rights.1University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Constitution of Malta Any ordinary law that conflicts with it is void to the extent of the conflict.
Amendment is deliberately hard. Most structural provisions, including those on the President, Parliament, the courts, and fundamental rights, require a two-thirds supermajority of all members of the House of Representatives. A smaller set of provisions goes further still: after the two-thirds vote, the change must also win a majority in a referendum.2Constitute Project. Malta 1964 (rev. 2016) Constitution – Article 66 A single governing party, even one with a comfortable majority, cannot rewrite the core of the constitution on its own. Which clauses fall under which threshold has itself been a political fight, with opposition parties at times accusing governments of reclassifying provisions to avoid the two-thirds rule.
The Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government and the practical center of political power. The President appoints as Prime Minister the member of the House of Representatives who, in the President’s judgment, commands majority support, which in practice means the leader of the party with the most seats. On the Prime Minister’s advice, the President appoints the other ministers, all of whom must also sit in the House.3Constitution of Malta. Constitution of Malta – Article 80 – Appointment of Ministers
The Cabinet holds the general direction and control of the government and is collectively responsible to Parliament.4Constitution of Malta. Constitution of Malta – Article 79 – The Cabinet Collective responsibility means that once Cabinet adopts a position, every minister must publicly back it or resign. The executive speaks with one voice, at least officially.
How much power actually sits with the Prime Minister has been a running concern. A constitutional reform commission observed that the Prime Minister holds significant appointment authority at the center of the system, while the President, Parliament, the Cabinet, and the judiciary are institutionally too weak to provide sufficient checks. Reform proposals have aimed to redistribute some of that authority, with incremental progress.
The President as Head of State
The President of Malta is the Head of State in a role that is almost entirely ceremonial. The House of Representatives appoints the President by resolution for a five-year term.5Constitute Project. Malta 1964 (rev. 2016) Constitution – Article 48 There is no direct popular election.
On paper, executive authority is vested in the President, who appoints the Prime Minister, assents to legislation, and serves as commander-in-chief. In practice, those powers are exercised on Cabinet’s advice. The President appoints as Prime Minister whoever already commands a majority in the House, and must give assent to bills without any discretion to veto.6Constitute Project. Malta 1964 (rev. 2016) Constitution – Article 72 The gap between the formal powers of the office and its real influence is one of the defining features of the Westminster model Malta uses.
Parliament and the Lawmaking Process
Malta has a unicameral Parliament made up of the President and the House of Representatives.7University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Constitution of Malta – Article 51 The House has a statutory size of 65 members, elected five from each of 13 districts, but the sitting number is usually higher. The Constitution allows additional seats to correct disproportionality between a party’s vote share and seat count, and a 2021 law added a gender-balancing mechanism that can create up to 12 further seats when fewer than 40 percent of elected members belong to one sex. After the 2022 general election the House had 79 members.8Inter-Parliamentary Union. Malta – House of Representatives
Members serve five-year terms. The House debates and passes legislation, approves the national budget, and scrutinizes the executive. Bills can come from the government or from any member and move through multiple stages of debate and committee review. Once the House passes a bill, the President must give assent without delay.6Constitute Project. Malta 1964 (rev. 2016) Constitution – Article 72 There is no presidential veto.
How Voters Elect the House
Malta uses a proportional system called the Single Transferable Vote, written directly into the Constitution. Voters rank candidates by preference within their multi-member district rather than picking one. Each district returns five members.
A candidate wins a seat by reaching a quota calculated from the district’s valid votes. Surplus votes above the quota transfer to voters’ next preferences, and candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated with their votes also redistributed, until all five seats are filled. The design aims for a House that reflects the overall popular vote more closely than winner-take-all voting would.
Even so, two parties have dominated Maltese politics since independence: the centre-left Labour Party and the centre-right Nationalist Party. Between them they have won virtually every seat for decades. Smaller parties and independents contest elections but rarely break through, and the extra seats awarded to correct disproportionality tend to go to whichever large party narrowly missed proportionality, which reinforces the duopoly rather than opening space for smaller parties.
The Courts
The judiciary is constitutionally independent of the executive and legislature. Maltese law is a genuine hybrid, drawing on continental civil law, English common law, canon law, and EU law.9University of Malta. The Constitution of Malta as a Microcosm of the Maltese Legal System That mix reflects centuries of rule by different powers before independence.
Court Structure
The courts operate on two tiers. Superior courts, presided over by judges, include the Constitutional Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Criminal Court. The Constitutional Court sits at the top and has the final word on whether legislation or government action violates the Constitution. Inferior courts, presided over by magistrates, handle less serious civil and criminal matters as courts of first instance.
Judicial Appointments
How judges and magistrates reach the bench has been a major area of reform. The Constitution now establishes a Judicial Appointments Committee made up of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General, the Auditor General, the Ombudsman, and the President of the Chamber of Advocates.10Constitute Project. Malta 1964 (rev. 2016) Constitution – Article 96A When a vacancy opens, the committee evaluates candidates and sends the President three names for each position along with a detailed report; the President must pick from that list.11Judiciary Malta. The Judicial Appointments Committee This replaced an older arrangement giving the Prime Minister more direct influence, a change prompted by rule-of-law concerns raised domestically and by European institutions. Judges and magistrates have security of tenure once appointed.
Judicial Discipline
The Commission for the Administration of Justice handles disciplinary matters for judges, magistrates, advocates, and legal procurators. Its proceedings are confidential and held behind closed doors. It operates under Chapter 369 of the Laws of Malta and is the main mechanism for holding judicial officers accountable without exposing them to day-to-day political pressure.
Watchdog Offices
Several independent offices sit outside the executive and report to Parliament, designed to check how government power is used.
The Ombudsman
The Ombudsman is an officer of Parliament, appointed by the President on a House resolution supported by at least two-thirds of all members. The office investigates complaints of maladministration by government departments and public authorities, and its constitutional status is itself entrenched behind a two-thirds amendment threshold.12Office of the Ombudsman. Legislation Since 2010, specialized Commissioners for Administrative Investigations have handled complaints in particular areas of public administration, with the same independence and investigative powers.
The Auditor General
The Auditor General heads the National Audit Office and audits the accounts of all government departments, offices, and courts, along with any public body that administers government funds. The Auditor General reports annually to the House and has access to all relevant records. The Constitution says explicitly that the Auditor General is not subject to the authority or control of any person in exercising these functions.13National Audit Office Malta. Constitution of Malta – Article 108
The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life
The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has jurisdiction over members of Parliament, including ministers and parliamentary secretaries, and over persons of trust hired from outside the public service. The Commissioner investigates whether they have acted unlawfully, breached ethical duties, or abused their power, acting on complaints or independently.14Commissioner for Standards in Public Life. The Role of the Commissioner The office also examines parliamentarians’ asset and interest declarations and can recommend improvements to codes of ethics, lobbying rules, and gift regulations. Findings of wrongdoing can be referred to Parliament’s Standing Committee for Standards in Public Life.
Local Councils
Below the national level, Malta is divided into 68 local councils: 54 on Malta and 14 on Gozo.15European Committee of the Regions. Malta Local elections run on a rotating basis every three years, with the number of councillors in each locality tied to its population. The candidate with the most votes from the party that wins the highest vote total in a locality automatically becomes mayor.
Regional councils sit between the local councils and the central government. Their role is coordinative: facilitating collaboration among local councils in an area, consulting with central government on projects affecting multiple localities, and helping distribute funding from national agencies.16Local Government Division Malta. National Strategic Vision for Local Government 2023-2030
EU Membership and Its Effect on Domestic Law
Malta joined the European Union in 2004, and membership reshaped the legal framework. The Constitution was amended to accommodate accession. Article 65, which grants Parliament its lawmaking power, now requires that legislation be made “in conformity with full respect for human rights, generally accepted principles of international law and Malta’s international and regional obligations in particular those assumed by the treaty of accession to the European Union.”17Constitute Project. Malta 1964 (rev. 2016) Constitution – Article 65 EU regulations apply directly in Malta and EU directives must be transposed into national law, which narrows Parliament’s freedom in areas covered by EU competence.
Malta elects six members to the European Parliament and is represented on the European Council through the Prime Minister. Membership channels structural and cohesion funds to the islands and subjects Maltese policy to oversight by the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. For a country of roughly half a million people, the EU framework amplifies Malta’s voice in continental decisions while limiting the scope of purely domestic choices in areas from trade to environmental regulation.