The Parliament of Malta ( mt, Il-Parlament ta' Malta) is the constitutional legislative body in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, located in

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

. The

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the

President of Malta The president of Malta ( mt, President ta' Malta) is the constitutional head of state of Malta. The President is indirectly elected by the House of Representatives of Malta, which appoints the president for a five-year term and requires them to ...

. By

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

law, all government ministers, including the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, must be members of the House of Representatives. Between 1921 and 1933 the Parliament was bicameral, consisting of a Senate ''(Senat)'' as well as a Legislative Assembly ''(Assemblea Leġiżlattiva)''.

House of Representatives of Malta

The House of Representatives ( mt, Kamra tad-Deputati) is the unicameral legislature of Malta and a component of the Parliament of Malta. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House. The

is appointed for a five-year term by a resolution of the House.

Composition

The House is composed of an odd number of members elected for one legislative term of five years. Ordinarily, five members are returned from each of thirteen

electoral districts An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

using the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

electoral system but additional members are elected in cases of dis-proportionality (where a party with an absolute majority of votes fails to win an absolute majority of seats and where only candidates from two parties are elected). Since 2022 up to 12 seats can be provided to unelected candidates from "the under-represented gender" in case one of both fails to make up to 40% of the elected members.

Meeting place

Between 1921 and 2015, the House of Representatives was housed in the Grandmaster's Palace in

. Since 4 May 2015 the House of Representatives has met in the Parliament House, near the city gate of Valletta.

Committees

The Standing Orders of the House provide for the creation of eight Parliamentary Standing Committees to make parliamentary work more efficient and enhance Parliament's scrutiny functions. The Standing Committees are: *Standing Committee on House Business *Standing Committee on Privileges *Standing Committee on Public Accounts *Standing Committee on Foreign and European Affairs *Standing Committee on Social Affairs *Standing Committee on Consideration of Bills *Standing Committee on Family Affairs *Standing Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs Other Standing Committees constituted by other statutes include: *Standing Committee on Environment and Development Planning *National Audit Office Accounts Committee *Standing Committee for Public Appointments *Committee for Standards in Public Life There are also select committees and non-official committees.

Latest elections

Members

* List of members of the parliament of Malta, 2008–13 * List of members of the parliament of Malta, 2013–17 * List of members of the parliament of Malta, 2017–22 * List of members of the parliament of Malta, 2022–27

References

External links

* {{authority control

Government of Malta

Politics of Malta 1921 establishments in Malta