Third Parties Make Marginal Gains With Cassola’s Momentum Leading The Charge
Malta’s third parties made marginal gains in the 2026 General Election, but the increase in votes came off the back of newcomers, Momentum, and its lead candidate, Arnold Cassola.
Third parties and independents took 10,689 votes in the general election, or 3.55% of the total, a marginal rise on the 3.15% they collected in 2022, and almost double the 1.29% recorded in 2017.
Momentum, launched and led by long-standing candidate Arnold Cassola, was the best-performing third party at its first attempt, taking 1.54% of the vote.
Cassola himself did the heavy lifting. He pulled 795 first-count votes in the 10th district, nearly double the 427 he scored there previously, and another 722 in the 9th. Mark Philip Camilleri Gambin also performed well in the 11th district, receiving 532 first-count votes.
It’s reflected in the overall district results. Momentum performed best on the 10th district (3.66%), 9th (3.16%), and 11th (2.35%),
That result runs counter to the trajectory of ADPD, Malta’s longest-running third party. ADPD slipped from 1.61% in 2022 to 1.31% in 2026, losing about 750 votes, and ceding its position as the largest third-party. Leader Sandra Gauci announced she would step back from politics following the result.
Gauci was the third-best-performing third-party candidate, receiving 513 first-count votes in the 12th district and 455 first-count votes in the 6th.
Further down, Aħwa Maltin edged up to 0.60% (from 0.52% in 2022). Imperium Europa managed just 167 votes, only six more than the combined total of every independent candidate in the country.
Third parties ran a meaningful share of candidates this year. Of the 162 people on the ballot, just over 14% came from third parties. With eight candidates, ADPD had the largest representation, followed by Momentum and Aħwa Maltin with seven candidates each.
Yet representation on the ballot does not translate into a level contest. Third parties navigate an obstacle course of historical loyalties, a lack of media infrastructures for propaganda and donation marathons, and an Electoral Commission that supports the duopoly.
The Electoral Commission counts votes, publishes election results and campaign expenses, reviews electoral division boundaries, and can initiate suspending an election if it alleges illegal or corrupt practices.
Under Malta’s decades-long political duopoly, the rule that the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition propose their members effectively means that only the dominant parties can significantly influence the institution’s make-up.
ADPD’s chairperson, Sandra Gauci, told Amphora Media that her party had to “fight tooth and nail” to get access to real-time voting counts through the Electoral Commission’s laptops. Momentum’s chairperson, Arnold Cassola, too, pointed out that PL and PN members received voting updates every five minutes, while smaller parties are excluded from the process.
| Party | 2026 | 2022 | 2017 | 2013 | 2008 | 2003 |
| AD/ADPD | 1.31% | 1.61% | 0.83% | 1.8% | 1.31% | 0.66% |
| Independent candidates | 0.05% | 0.43% | 0.03% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Others | AM – 0.6% IE – (0/05%)M – 1.5$ | PP 0.52%VM 0.13%A 0.46% | AB 0.07% MPM 0.36% | AL 0%PA 0.02% | A 0.01%AN 0.5%FM 0%GP 0.01%IE 0.03% | |
| Total | 3.55% | 3.15% | 1.29% | 1.83% | 1.87% | 0.67% |
