MALTA-PL Set For Election Win As Russian 'Golden Passport' Under EU Scrutiny

The incumbent centre-left Labour Party (PL) holds a relatively sizeable lead over the main opposition centre-right Nationalist Party (PN) ahead of the 26 March legislative election taking place in the eurozone's smallest member state.

• In the two opinion polls carried out by regular pollster, Malta Today, after the announcement of the dissolution of parliament Labour has led in both, but with a large number of respondents stating that they were undecided:
  • Fieldwork 21-26 Feb: PL: 36.2%, PN: 30.5%, Undecided: 19.1%. 597 respondents
  • Fieldwork 21 Feb-4 Mar: PL: 37.4%, PN: 30%, Undecided: 20.5%. 1,220 respondents.
• Labour is seeking a third consecutive term in office and a first electoral win for incumbent PM Robert Abela. He took over from Joseph Muscat in Jan 2020 following a scandal surrounding the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
• The Russian invasion of Ukraine has notable implications for Maltese politics. The country is one of three in the EU (alongside Cyprus and Bulgaria) that provided so-called 'golden passports' to wealthy individuals in return for significant investments. Cyprus has fully halted its scheme, while the Bulgarian parliament is set to vote on similar.
• The Maltese gov't has, for now, suspended the processing of applications from Russian and Belarusian individuals. Comes as EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reydners called out Valletta for not fully halting the system, saying "“We want to completely remove such schemes...We cannot sell this EU common good [citizenship] simply for Member States to fill their coffers.”