The (MLP, political party. It is the main party of opposition in Malta, and at the
2003 general elections obtained thirty of the sixty-five seats in the
Maltese House Of Representatives , with a 47.5% share of the vote.
The Malta Labour Party was founded in 1949. Dr Paul Boffa, then Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party (founded in 1920 and in government since 1947), left the Party because of serious disagreements with his Deputy Dom Mintoff and a series of cabinet crises. Boffa formed the Malta Workers Party (MWP) while Mintoff re-organised the Labour Party as the Malta Labour Party.
The MLP contested its first elections for the Malta Legislative Assembly the following year. The old Labour vote was split equally between the MLP and the MWP giving them eleven members each. This allowed the
Nationalist Party (PN) to have a slight edge in the formation of a government, which it did in coalition with the MWP. The government did not last long. Two other elections were held in 1951 and 1953 (the last time a coalition governed in Malta) which both saw short-lived PN-MWP coalitions and the decline in the share of votes to the MWP with increasing support for the MLP.
The MWP eventually disintegrated and the MLP formed a government for the first time in
1955 . This
Legislature was dominated by the Integration with Britain issue. The Party, which started its life as an anti-colonial Party and the slogan "Integration or self-determination" was now inclined towards the first part of the formula. A
Referendum was held in 1958 but given the number of abstensions and massive opposition by the Nationalist Party and the
Catholic Church , the result was inconclusive. This, together with a number of dismissals at the naval dockyard led to Mintoff's resignation and his call for massive protests in April 1958.
The Governor re-established direct
Colonial Government which lasted until
1962 . In the meantime the MLP's connection with
Third World Independentist and
Socialist movements, together with its targeting the Church as pro-British and the cause of failure of the Integration project led to the Party leadership being interdicted by the Catholic Church authorities. This led to a minor split (and the creation of the
Christian Workers' Party , which lasted only until 1966) and the defeat of the Party at the polls.
The Party participated in
Independence talks but disagreed with what was offered. It did not participate in the Independence celebrations in
1964 . The Party made strong gains in the
1966 Elections which, however, were not enough to see it in office.
An unimportant split occurred in 1969 when the
Communist Party Of Malta was founded. The Communist Party has since only contested the 1987 elections.
The Party was victorious in 1971 and immediately set out to re-negotiate the post-Independence
Military and financial agreements with Britain. The Party also undertook massive
Nationalization programmes and expansion of the
Welfare State . Malta became a
Republic in
1974 . The MLP won the
1976 Elections .
In 1981 the Party managed to hold on to a parliamentary majority even though the opposition Nationalist Party managed an absolute majority of ballots. A serious
Political Crisis ensued when Nationalists
MPs refused to take their seats for the first years of the legislature. Mintoff resigned as Prime Minister and Party leader in 1984 (although he retained his parliamentary seat) making way for his appointee
Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici .
The Party agreed to
Constitutional Amendment s in 1987, which guaranteed that the party with a majority of vote was given a majority of seats. Thanks to the amendment the Nationalists returned to Government after 16 years.
The MLP performed badly in
1992 and
Mifsud Bonnici resigned. He was succeeded by
Dr Alfred Sant who modernized the party and secured a victory at the polls in
1996 .
However, trouble was brewing. Mr. Mintoff started creating problems in Parliament where the government had only a 1-seat majority. Things came to a head in summer of
1998 when the government lost a vote on the lease of the
Cottonera waterfront. Sant called early elections and was defeated. Back in opposition, the Party campaigned unsuccessfully against
EU membership, losing again in
2003 . Sant resigned but stood again for election of Leadership of the Party where he was voted again as leader with more than 65% of the vote.
The Party has currently 30 MPs (out of 65) and 3 MEPs (out of 5). The Party won the local council election of 2004 and 2005. It obtained 3 of Malta's 5 seats in the
2004 European Parliament elections. In the European Parliament the Malta Labour Party's representatives belong to the
Party Of European Socialists . The Labour Party owns
Super One TV , and
Super One Radio .
