European Elections in Malta: The Constrictions on Second-Order Elections in Two-Party Systems

Malta has been an anomaly in the Mediterranean for over a decade, a country which has bucked the trend of many regional EU states in that Euroscepticism is low and support for the EU is high. In this two party state, political engagement is pronounced with turnout in national elections over 90% and turnout for EP elections the highest for a country where voting is not obligatory. That said, turnout for the EP elections is significantly lower than that for national elections and fringe parties have fared better than in national elections, though no third party has broken the two party system. This article will discuss the different dynamics surrounding national and EP elections and measure the degree to which EP elections in Malta are second order elections. We will then move on to discuss the political dynamics of the 2019 elections where predictions indicate that the ruling party will win 5 of the 6 seats available. With a booming economy but a government mired in accusations of corruption and concerns over press-freedom after the murder of a prominent journalist, we will discuss how the Maltese electorate uses the elections to pass judgement on the main parties, especially as the country uses the Single Transferable Voting system and the electorate can share its ranking of votes across parties and yet tends not to. This discussion with be based on data gathered over the last 15 years, surveys as well as interviews with all the parties participating in Malta in the European election. Ultimately, we will try and establish the degree to which EP elections in Malta are second-order, the degree to which that is reflected in support for fringe parties and the mainstream parties as well as the degree to which this has changed over the last 4 rounds of elections.