Nationalist Party Partit Nazzjonalista | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | PN |
| Leader (Kap) | Alex Borg |
| Deputy leader | Alex Perici Calascione |
| Founder | Fortunato Mizzi[a] |
| Founded | 1926; 99 years ago (1926) |
| Merger of | Maltese Political Union Democratic Nationalist Party |
| Headquarters | Id-Dar Ċentrali, TriqHerbert Ganado, Pietà |
| Newspaper | In-Nazzjon |
| Youth wing |
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| Women's wing | Moviment Nisa Partit Nazzjonalista[1] |
| Media arm | NET Media |
| Workers' wing | Solidarjetà Ħaddiema Partit Nazzjonalista (SĦPN)[2] |
| Elderly wing | Assoċjazzjoni Pensjonanti Anzjani Nazzjonalisti (APAN)[3] |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Conservatism Historical: National conservatism Italophilia |
| Political position | Centre tocentre-right Historical: Right-wing |
| Religion | Catholicism |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party Group |
| International affiliation | |
| Colours | Blue |
| Anthem | "Sbejħa Patrija" ("Beautiful Fatherland")[4] |
| Parliament of Malta | 35 / 79 |
| European Parliament | 3 / 6 |
| Mayors of localities | 23 / 68 |
| Local council seats | 206 / 462 |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| pn.org.mt | |
TheNationalist Party (Maltese:Partit Nazzjonalista,PN) is one of the two major contemporarypolitical parties inMalta, along with theLabour Party.
It is aChristian democratic,[5][6] andconservative political party,[7][8] and it has been described as sitting on thecentre[9] tocentre-right on the political spectrum.[10][11] It is supportive of Malta's membership in the European Union.[12] It is currently in opposition to the Labour Party. Since independence in 1964, the Nationalist Party has won six out of the thirteen general elections, in 1966, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2003 and 2008. In 2008 it won with a paper-thin majority of around 1500 votes.[13]
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The Nationalist Party's roots lie in the important language question of the late 19th century, when the colonial government in Malta tried to give the English language the importance Italian had held inschools, administration, andlaw courts.Fortunato Mizzi, who was a lawyer at the time, strongly opposed these reforms, and in 1880, he set up the "Partito Anti-Riformista" (Anti-Reform Party).[14] He and his followers also wanted a better constitution for the island, as the one imposed at the time had been granted by governorRichard More O'Ferrall in 1849, and gave the Maltese little power.[15] This was because the governor was to appoint more members to the council of government than there were to be elected by the voters.[citation needed]
Against the Anti-Reform Party stood the Reform Party, founded bySigismondo Savona in 1879. The Reform Party was in favour of the language reforms being imposed.[16]
In 1886, Fortunato Mizzi, together withGerald Strickland (another anti-reformist at the time), went to London to demand a new constitution for the islands, which would give themrepresentative government.[citation needed] This constitution was granted in 1887 (known as theKnutsford Constitution), and added more elected members to the council of government than official (appointed) members.[citation needed]
During the next few years, the party was divided between abstentionists and anti-abstentionists.[citation needed] The abstentionists would immediately resign their post in the Council of Government immediately upon election as a protest against the token representation of the electorate on the council; the anti-abstentionists favoured co-operation with the colonial authorities in order to work for a betterconstitution.[citation needed]
This practice of abstentionism led to the 1887 constitution being withdrawn, and in 1903, a new one was given instead, similar to that of 1887.[citation needed]
Following the First World War a broader and more moderate coalition, theMaltese Political Union (UPM), was formed but a more radical and pro-Italian group, theDemocratic Nationalist Party (PDN), split from the main party.[citation needed] The two groups contested the first legislative elections of 1921 but in separate constituencies so as not to damage each other's chances. However, after elections the UPM, which emerged as the largest Party in the Legislative Assembly, choseLabour as its coalition partner.[citation needed]
The parties again contested the 1924 elections separately although this time they did form a coalition, eventually merging in 1926 under the old name of Nationalist Party.[citation needed] It lost its first elections as a re-unified Party in 1927 to the "Compact", an electoral alliance between the Constitutional Party and Labour.[citation needed]
A constitutional crisis, resulting from a dispute between the Church and theConstitutional Party, meant that elections were suspended in 1930.[citation needed] They were held again in 1932 when the Nationalists emerged victorious (21 seats out of 32). However, the Nationalists did not last long in government.[citation needed] The colonial authorities, concerned at the rise offascist Italy in the Mediterranean and Africa, suspended the government and the constitution on the pretext that government's measures to strengthen instruction of Italian in schools violated the Constitution.[citation needed]
The party openly sided with GeneralFranco'sNationalist army in theSpanish Civil War.[17] This is still seen by the historical iconography that stayed on the party, including the proto-Fascist imagery of the party logo is a shield set against a black background (black being the heraldic colour chosen byMussolini, as evidenced by his "Blackshirts"), the PN's official anthem, which is still sung during mass meetings, being similar to the official anthem of Mussolini's Fascist party, "La Giovinezza", and also the name of the party itself, which in itself includes the termnazionale for the first time, which was inspired byItalian nationalism.[18][failed verification]
The Nationalists received what could have been their coup de grâce during the War. Their association with Italy, the wartime enemy, antagonised them with the electorate, and their leaderEnrico Mizzi (son of Fortunato) was first interned and then exiled toUganda during the War along with other supporters of the Party.[19] The Party did not even contest the 1945 elections for the Council of Government which for the first time raised the Labour Party fromthird-party status to that of a major party at the expense of the Constitutionals.[citation needed]
Notwithstanding, the Nationalist Party survived and in its first major electoral test, thelegislative elections of 1947, it managed to stay ahead of various splinters that had formed from people who did not want to be associated with the main party. In the following1950 elections, a very damaging split occurred in the ranks of the governing Labour Party resulting in two parties: theMalta Labour Party (MLP) and theMalta Workers' Party (MWP). This helped the Nationalists become the largest party in the Legislative Assembly and form a minority government which, though short-lived, re-established the Nationalist Party as a major political party.Enrico Mizzi was sworn in as Prime Minister, but died after three months in December.[14]
Two subsequent elections were held in 1951 and 1953 where the Nationalists formed short-lived coalitions with theMalta Workers Party (which, over the years, eventually disintegrated). The Party lost the1955 elections to Labour and the following years it led the campaign against the Labour Government's proposal forintegration with Britain. Integration failed largely because Britain lost interest after theSuez fiasco and the constitution was again revoked in 1958 following massive disturbances over redundancies at the Malta Drydocks.[14]
A new constitution was enacted in 1961. The Nationalists, led byGeorge Borg Olivier won the 1962 elections, fought largely over the issue of independence and having as a backdrop a second politico-religious crisis this time between the Church and the Labour Party. Independence was achieved in 1964 and the Party was returned to office in elections in 1966. It lost the 1971 elections by a narrow margin and lost again in 1976.[14]
In the elections of 1981 the party, led byEddie Fenech Adami achieved an absolute majority of votes for the first time since 1933 but it did not gain a parliamentary majority and so remained in the opposition.[citation needed] A crisis followed with the party MPs refusing to take their seats. Amendments to the constitution in 1987 meant that the party was voted into office that same year after 16 years in opposition.[citation needed]
In 1990 the government formally applied to join theEuropean Community.[citation needed] A wide-ranging programme of liberalisation and public investments meant the return to office with a larger majority in 1992.[citation needed] However, the party was defeated in the 1996 elections.[citation needed] The stint in opposition would last only 22 months as the government soon lost its one-seat majority. The party won the 1998 elections convincingly, a feat that was repeated in 2003 following the conclusions of accession negotiations with theEuropean Union in 2002.
The Nationalist Party proposed Malta's accession to theEuropean Union, a question which was put forward in the2003 Maltese European Union membership referendum.[20] Those in favour were 53% of eligible voters, a result that prompted the2003 snap election in order to confirm the mandate.[21][22] Maltajoined theEuropean Union in 2004.[23]
The Nationalist Party won narrowly thegeneral election of 2008.[24] It lost the2013 election and is currently in opposition.[25][26]
After the most recent Nationalist government, led byLawrence Gonzi, lost its majority in parliament in the final year of the legislature, the same government fell when the budget vote (also a vote of confidence) was defeated, thus meaning it was the first Nationalist government since Independence to fall from power.[27]
After approximately 23 years in government (With Labour's short 2-year stint between 1996 and 1998 being in between two stints of PN governance) the Nationalist Party took a major defeat in theMaltese general elections of 2013, losing several districts and resulting in a nine-seat deficit in parliament between it as the opposition and the elected Government. the win is considered to have been the biggest victory any party has had since Malta's Independence with the opposing Labour party taking 55% of the votes with a difference of 35,000 votes between the two parties.[28]
The Nationalist Party again suffered a loss in theEuropean Parliament election of 2014 against the governing Labour Party by over 34,000 votes,[29] but managed to elect its third MEP for the first time since Malta's entrance in the EU, namelyRoberta Metsola,David Casa andTherese Comodini Cachia.[30]
In the 2015 local council elections, the Nationalist Party increased its vote percentage from 41% in 2012 to 45%.[citation needed]
In the lead-up to the2017 general election the Nationalist Party negotiated for a coalition with two never-electedthird parties in Malta, all under the campaignForza Nazzjonali: the newly formed centre-leftDemocratic Party (PD) and the greenDemocratic Alternative (AD). Under an agreement reached with PD leader and former Labour and Nationalist MPMarlene Farrugia, PD candidates contested the 2017 general election under the Nationalist banner with the added notation "tal-orange" (referring to the PD's party colour) and any elected PD members would participate in a future Nationalist-led government.[31] Negotiations with the AD were unsuccessful due to the AD wanting all three parties to run candidates under a new name, Qawsalla ("Rainbow"), with unified policy platforms rather than simply as Nationalists with an added notation.[32][33]
The Party formed a coalition list called Forza Nazzjonali together with the Democratic Party. Nevertheless, this was not successful and the party, under Forza Nazzjonali, was defeated again in the2017 snap election.[34]
After the election,Simon Busuttil resigned from the position of leader of the party alongside the deputy leaders of his administration.[35] A new election for the leadership role was decided in which for the first time, paid PN supporters can vote as well as the executive. The four candidates in the first round wereAdrian Delia,Chris Said,Alex Perici Calascione andFrank Portelli. Alex Perici Calascione and Frank Portelli were the two candidates who did not pass through the first phase. In the second round Adrian Delia emerged as the winner of the leadership election, in which he gained 7,734 votes (52.7% of the vote), to Said's 6,932 votes.[36]
In Adrian Delia's first European election as party leader in 2019 the party took an even bigger defeat than before, with a 43,000-vote difference separating the two parties. this would lead to the party losing another seat while the Labour party gained another seat.[37]
FormerSpeaker of the House of Representatives of MaltaLouis Galea has suggested that the party rebrand, possibly under the new name People's National Party (Maltese:Partit Nazzjonali tal-Poplu), in order to avoid association with other contemporary "nationalist" parties in Europe, which tend to be positioned on thefar-right.[38]
Roberta Metsola, a member of PN, was electedPresident of the European Parliament in January 2022 following the unexpected death ofDavid Sassoli.
The Party would soon suffer its own internal crisis when Adrian Delia was voted out from his role as the leader of the party after the newsportal LovinMalta alleged that well informed sources told them thatWhatsApp messages were sent between him and the alleged mastermind ofDaphne Caruana Galizia's murderYorgen Fenech.[39] This fact would soon be picked up by other MPs from the same party who would use it as acasus belli to vote Delia out of power. This would culminate withBernard Grech emerging as a challenger to Adrian Delia, who would in turn be election as the new leader of the PN.[40] However, it would soon emerge that the WhatsApp leaks were very much greatly exaggerated by another MPJason Azzopardi, who after Delia challenged Azzopardi to publish the hundreds of messages that he claimed to have with Fenech, would backtrack on his claim of Delia being in Fenech's pockets and signed a joint declaration in which they both reconciled.[41][42] in addition, LovinMalta would soon be taken to court on libel by Adrian Delia over the article, in which LovinMalta would then issue another article claiming that they did not verify the allegation made by the third party with Delia but verified that the allegation had been made. They also expressed regret that the article may have been misunderstood as an allegation of wrongdoing on the part of Delia.[43] As a result, Delia withdrew the libel case against them.
In the 2022 general election, the party was again rocked by the fact that 4 major PN politicians would not run, in addition one of these politicians Mario Galea would speak up against the part be saying that other politicians close to the PN leadership 'made my life hell' and “I was made a disposable commodity... People close to the leadership also called out my mental health,”[44] Because of these many revelations regarding internal party politics, the PN suffered its third consecutive defeat in the2022 general election. in addition, this defeat was the biggest percentage of vote difference between the two parties since the 1951 general election.[45]
On 10 June 2025, Bernard Grech announced his resignation as Leader of the Nationalist Party and Leader of the Opposition, effective as soon as his successor is elected following an internal leadership contest.[46] His resignation came two days after the news portal MaltaToday released the results of a survey placing voting intentions for the Partit Nazzjonalista at 39.7% to the Partit Laburista's 53.3%, with Grech's trust rating at a staggering 18.8% to Prime Minister Robert Abela's 50%.[47] Following the resignation, the party held an election on 6 September 2025, in whichAlex Borg defeated Adrian Delia by a 44-vote margin to become party leader.[48]
Malta's Nationalist Party emerged from theAnti-Reform Party founded byFortunato Mizzi in 1883, opposing taxation policies decreed by theBritish authorities and measures to anglicise the educational andjudiciary during the "Language Question" period.[49]
The party supported human rights, so long as they were in line withCatholicism. In 2011 it was noted that its party platform was "far to the right of most other Christian Democratic parties, the BavarianChristian Social Union in Germany included".[50] In the following years, the party moved towards more centrist positions and became more progressive. The Nationalist Party opposed the introduction ofdivorce in Malta in 2011.[51] However, since then, it has changed to a position of support for it and for other liberal ideas.
The Nationalist Party was the first party to have an openly gay MP,Karl Gouder, and Trans Candidate Alex Mangion. The majority of its parliamentary group voted in favour ofgay marriage in 2017.[52] The party calls itself a mosaic of people and ideologies. The party recruited anon-binary member, Mark Josef Rapa, for their pro-LGBT group, FOIPN.
A clause in the party statute dating back to 1991 bans active or formerFreemasons from taking active roles, including casting a democratic vote, within the parameters controlled by the party itself.[53]
The party structures are the General, Executive and Administrative Councils, the Parliamentary Group, the District Fora and Sectional Committees, the College of Local Councillors and a number of party branches.[54]
Party officials include the Leader, two Deputy Leaders, Secretary-General, President of the Party's General Councils and Presidents for each of the Executive and Administrative Committees, Treasurer, International Secretary and Parliamentary Group Whip.[55]
The General Council is made up of delegates and representatives from other party structures, the largest number being delegates elected by the Sectional Committees.[56] The General Council elects and approves the Party Leader and two Deputy Leaders, approves the electoral programme, approves the Secretary-General's report on the state of the party and amends the Party Statute.[54] The executive committee is made up of the party's most senior officials, representatives of the General Council, the Parliamentary Group, Sectional Committees and the Party branches.[54] The executive committee is the political and policy making body of the Party and, amongst other things, elects most of the party officials, approves candidates, drafts the electoral programme and lays out the broad policy guidelines. The Administrative Committee is made up of party officials, Presidents of all of the party's branches and deals with organisational and administrative issues.[54]
The party is organised geographically in Sectional Committees which are then organised in District Fora with special provisions applying for Party organisation inGozo.[57] The Parliamentary Group and the College of Local Councillors bring together the party's elected representatives inparliament andlocal councils. The party's branches include an equal opportunities section, as well as youth, women's, seniors, workers, professionals, entrepreneurs, local councillors, candidates and former MPs sections.[58]
Although not directly part of the party's structure, the PN owns the television stationNET Television, the online news portal netnews.com.mt,Net FM radio station, and theIn-Nazzjon andIl-Mument newspapers through its holding companyMedia.link Communications.[59]
The party had two splits:[60]
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Rank | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | Ugo Pasquale Mifsud | 14,321 | 41.5 | 13 / 32 |  13 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 1932 | 28,777 | 59.6 | 21 / 32 | 8 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1939 | 11,618 | 33.1 | 3 / 10 |  18 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1945 | Enrico Mizzi | did not contest | |||||
| 1947 | 19,041 | 18.0 | 7 / 40 | 7 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1950 | 31,431 | 29.6 | 12 / 40 | 5 | 1st | Minority | |
| 1951 | George Borg Olivier | 39,946 | 35.5 | 15 / 40 | 3 |  1st | Coalition |
| 1953 | 45,180 | 38.1 | 18 / 40 | 3 | 2nd | Coalition | |
| 1955 | 48,514 | 40.2 | 17 / 40 | 1 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1962 | 48,514 | 40.2 | 25 / 50 | 8 | 1st | Minority | |
| 1966 | 68,656 | 47.9 | 28 / 50 | 3 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1971 | 80,753 | 48.1 | 27 / 55 | 1 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1976 | 99,551 | 48.5 | 31 / 65 | 4 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1981 | Eddie Fenech Adami | 114,132 | 50.9 | 31 / 65 | | 2nd | Opposition |
| 1987 | 119,721 | 50.9 | 35 / 69 | 4 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1992 | 127,932 | 51.8 | 34 / 65 | 1 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1996 | 124,864 | 47.8 | 34 / 69 | | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1998 | 137,037 | 51.8 | 35 / 65 | 1 | 1st | Majority | |
| 2003 | 146,172 | 51.8 | 35 / 65 | | 1st | Majority | |
| 2008 | Lawrence Gonzi | 143,468 | 49.3 | 35 / 69 | | 1st | Majority |
| 2013 | 132,426 | 43.3 | 30 / 69 | 5 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 2017 | Simon Busuttil | 130,850 | 42.1 | 28 / 67 | 2 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2022 | Bernard Grech | 123,233 | 41.7 | 35 / 79 | 7 | 2nd | Opposition |
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Rank | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Lawrence Gonzi | 97,688 | 39.8 | 2 / 5 | New | 2nd | EPP-ED |
| 2009 | 100,483 | 40.5 | 2 / 6 | | 2nd | EPP | |
| 2014 | Simon Busuttil | 100,785 | 40.2 | 3 / 6 | 1 | 2nd | |
| 2019 | Adrian Delia | 98,611 | 37.9 | 2 / 6 | 1 | 2nd | |
| 2024 | Bernard Grech | 109,351 | 42.0 | 3 / 6 | 1 | 2nd |
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