Malta Government and Politics

Following the 1974 Constitution, Malta is a parliamentary-democratic and unified state republic according to AllCityCodes.com. The head of state is a president, elected for five years by the House of Representatives. The president has primarily formal duties. Executive power has been added to the government, which in turn is based on and is responsible to the House of Representatives elected. The house is elected in general elections for five years, based on ratio choices. It has at least 65 seats; the party with the most votes is given additional mandates to secure a majority.

Malta Country Flag

Reference: Malta Flag Meaning

Malta is divided into six administrative units, but they are centrally managed. Also see AbbreviationFinder for abbreviation of MT and its meanings of Malta.

Judiciary

Maltese civil law is based on Roman law, while public law is heavily influenced by British law. The country has a Constitutional Court, a Court of Appeal, a Criminal Court of Appeal, a Civil and Criminal Court, Magistrate Courts, a Youth Court and Conciliation Council. The head of the Constitutional Court and the Court of Appeals is the country’s Supreme Court Justice.

Malta’s defense

The military service in Malta is voluntary. The total personnel force is 1950 active personnel, with a reserve of 180 personnel (2018, IISS). The military is easily equipped.

Army, navy and air defense are not separate arms branches, but components of a common force. The air component has three maritime patrol aircraft, two light transport aircraft, three training aircraft and six helicopters. The sea component has eight patrol vessels and two auxiliary vessels.

History and Politics

Buildings from the Stone Age

The influences of human cultures in the Mediterranean have left numerous traces on Malta. So you can still visit the remains of several megalithic temples. They were made between 3800 BC. BC and 2500 BC Built from large blocks of stone, the megaliths. Six such Maltese facilities from the Neolithic Age have been named World Heritage Sites. Originally there were many more of these temples.

Phoenicians, Romans and Arabs in Malta

It is believed that in the 8th century BC The Phoenicians, an important seafaring power, occupied the islands and built some settlements. Due to Malta’s central location in the Mediterranean, the island offered a strategically favorable position. In addition, the Phoenicians began to farm.

After the Phoenicians, the Maltese islands went to the Carthaginians and finally to the Romans. At that time the name Meliti was already being used for the island. In 60 AD the apostle Paul allegedly came across the islands on his way to Rome and converted the people living there to Christianity.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Malta went to the Byzantines and in 870 to the Arabs. The Arabs brought Islam and a new language with them. Malta became a Sicilian colony in the 13th century.

Malta as a religious state and thereafter

In the 16th century, knights of the Order of St. John fled from the Ottomans to Malta, where they built churches and settlements. An attack on the islands was ordered by the Ottoman Empire in 1565, but this could be repulsed. Now the order was also called the Order of Malta. During this time, today’s capital, Valletta, was built, which served the population as a safe fortress.

It was only when Napoleon’s troops occupied the island in 1798 that the rule of the Order of St. John ended. At first, many Maltese were grateful and saw the occupation by the French as a real liberation. But soon the Napoleonic troops began to plunder the country.

The Maltese turned to England for help. With the support of England it was possible to liberate the islands from the French and Malta joined the Commonwealth and the English colony area in 1814.

Malta gained independence only after 1964 and became a republic in 1974. The state of Malta has been a member of the European Union since May 1st, 2004.

The Order of Malta

The Order of Malta was originally called the Order of St. John and is a Catholic religious order. Religious communities are associations of religiously like-minded people who are bound by an oath to a given way of life and lead a spiritual life in community, for example in a monastery. The Order of St. John originated in Jerusalem in the 11th century. Since the Johanniter settled in Malta around 1530, it has mostly been referred to as the Order of Malta.

How does politics work in Malta?

Malta is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state. The president is elected by parliament and parliament every five years by the people. The state president mainly takes on representative tasks and appoints the prime minister, the head of government of the country. The two main Maltese parties are the Nationalist Party and the Labor Party.

Malta Head of Government

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