Myriam Spiteri Debono

Myriam Spiteri Debono (born 25 October 1952) is a Maltese politician who is the 11th and current President of Malta. She is the first Gozitan woman to be elected to the position. She was also the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta from 1996 to 1998, the first woman to hold that position.

Early life and career

Spiteri Debono was born Miriam Zammit in Victoria, Gozo, to Pawlu Zammit and his wife. She received her formal childhood education in Gozo and later attended the University of Malta where she studied English Literature and Linguistics, graduating in 1973, and founded the Socialist Students Union. She also studied law and graduated as a Notary Public in 1980.

Her first public office appointments included that of chair of the Cooperatives Board, and as a founding member of the Gender Equality Commission.

She was a candidate for the Malta Labour Party in five general elections (1981, 1987, 1992, 1996, 2003), but was never elected as a member of parliament. However, she was elected to the party's national executive in 1982 and served as the party's propaganda secretary.

Spiteri Debono served as president of the Malta Labour Party's women section between 1993 and 1996.

In September 1996, she was appointed Malta's Speaker of the House of Representatives by Prime Minister Alfred Sant. She was the first woman to serve in this role in Malta and was replaced by Anton Tabone in October 1998.

In January 2023, she was proposed for the role of Standards Commissioner by the Nationalist Party, however, she declined to be formally considered for the role claiming that she was not suited for it nor was she interested in taking the position.

Presidency

On 21 March 2024, she was reported to be the front runner to be appointed President of the Republic of Malta. The following week, this was confirmed in a joint statement issued from the offices of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. Malta's House of Representatives voted unanimously to elect Spiteri Debono as Malta's 11th President on 27 March 2024, becoming the first president to be elected using the new constitutional reforms of 2020 including the new requirement of two-thirds of the parliament's approval for the presidential nominee.

Spiteri Debono is the third woman to serve as President of Malta, after Agatha Barbara and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. She is also the third person from Gozo to be appointed to this office, following Anton Buttigieg and ÄŠensu Tabone.

She was inaugurated on 4 April 2024.

At the time of her appointment she admitted to being a technophobe; owning a flip phone and preferring to dictate her letters and other correspondence to an assistant, leaving emails to an email address in her husband's name.

Personal life

Spiteri Debono has lived most of her adult life in Birkirkara, Malta. She is married to notary Anthony Spiteri Debono and they have three children, Elena, George and Maria Kristina. Spiteri Debono and her husband have four grandchildren: Alexandra, Paul, Pippa and Beppe.

Honours

National honours

* Grand Master and Companion of Honour of the National Order of Merit, Malta, ''by right as a President of Malta''
* Grand Master of the Xirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika, ''by right as a President of Malta''

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiteri Debono, M
Presidents of Malta
Speakers of the House of Representatives of Malta
Labour Party (Malta) politicians
1952 births
Living people
People from Victoria, Gozo
20th-century Maltese women politicians
20th-century Maltese politicians
Maltese Roman Catholics
21st-century Maltese women politicians
21st-century Maltese politicians
Maltese notaries
Women presidents in Europe
21st-century women presidents
University of Malta alumni