Polling stations opened in Malta’s snap parliamentary election that will set the government for the next five years. The contest is widely seen as a two-horse race between Prime Minister Robert Abela’s Labour Party and the centrist Nationalist Party. Abela called the election a year early amid the Iran war, with concerns that energy prices and inflation tied to the Strait of Hormuz blockade could hurt Labour’s bid for a fourth consecutive term. Voters also cite rising rents and failing infrastructure, while public health services face added strain from a population surge in the EU’s smallest and most densely populated country. Opinion polls project Labour victory, though Nationalist leader Alex Borg aims to become Malta’s youngest prime minister at age 30. The election occurs amid the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose death followed revelations of corruption and led to Joseph Muscat’s resignation; a public inquiry found the government responsible for her death but found no evidence of direct involvement, citing an atmosphere of impunity.
#malta-politics #snap-parliamentary-election #economic-issues #public-health #daphne-caruana-galizia
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