An economic analysis of electoral laws
Malta’s electoral laws divide the tiny State into 13 districts of more or less equal size, each electing five members of Parliament. This means that in order to be elected to Parliament, a candidate must garner a quota of 16% of votes cast in a district, through a single transferable vote system (save for the fifth candidate elected in each district who often does not reach the quota but is elected because every other candidate is eliminated). In practice this also means that a political party must enjoy almost 16% support in an electoral district in order to be represented in Parliament.Proposals to adopt a 5% national quota have been resisted by the two major parties, thus virtually guaranteeing that they will be the only two parties in Parliament in a winner takes all system. This has been the subject of much heated debate on a popular Maltese blog . The democratic advantages of greater pluralism are intuitive to some, while the advantages of stability engendered in a two-party sys...