Sawt Falasteen - Ballot counting starts in Malta general election

Prime Minister Robert Abela, 48, called the snap election a year early, saying the government needed a fresh mandate in order to shield the tiny, import-heavy island from geopolitical crises.

While Malta's economy grew 4.0 percent last year, there are concerns the conflict in the Middle East could have an impact on tourism due to spiralling aviation fuel costs, and drive up inflation.

Abela campaigned on Labour's economic record since 2013, pledging stability in a period of uncertainty.

His main rival is Nationalist Party (PN) candidate Alex Borg, a 30-year-old lawyer and former "Mr World Malta" beauty pageant winner, who has urged the Maltese to vote for change.

If elected, he would be the country's youngest leader.

Voting took place across the tiny Mediterranean island nation on Saturday, and ballots were ferried overnight to the Counting Hall in Naxxar, where counting begins on Sunday morning.

A preliminary result is expected later Sunday, with polls predicting a Labour win over opposition Nationalist Party.

Abela has led Malta since 2020, when his predecessor quit following a political crisis over the assassination in 2017 of reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, who exposed corruption at the highest level in the country.

According to a 2025 Council of Europe report, Malta remains significantly behind in the fight against corruption -- but the issue was not a hot topic on the campaign trail.

- Population boom -

Malta's economic performance trumped other concerns.

Located off the coast of Sicily, Malta is the smallest and most densely populated country in the European Union, with around 550,000 people living in 316 square kilometres (122 square miles).

The island has a thriving economy based largely on tourism, online gaming and financial services, and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.

But despite a low birth rate the population has grown nearly 30 percent over a decade, driven largely by foreigners.

That has fuelled a construction boom, filling the skyline with cranes, creating traffic bottlenecks and putting a strain on key services.

Heritage groups have denounced environmental degradation and risks to UNESCO world heritage sites in the former British colony.

The country has very few natural resources and imports much of its energy, leaving it exposed to external shocks.

Labour heavily subsidises energy bills and the Nationalist Party said it would do so too if elected.

Malta is also on the front line of climate change and at risk of desertification and drought, but neither main party made the issue its priority.

There is a green party, the ADPD, but no third party has held even a seat in Malta's parliament since before independence in 1964.

A.AbuSaada--SF-PST