Billboards spring up across Malta as election speculation reaches fever pitch

Billboards have sprung up along roads across the country as speculation that the prime minister will announce a general election to take place this year continues to mount.

Temporary billboards could be seen lining roads in Msida, Marsa, Luqa, Qormi and Tarxien, when Times of Malta visited those localities on Friday, with others reported across many other parts of the country.  

The timing of the billboards’ installation, their concentration and apparent lack of planning permits — pointing to them being used for political advertising, exempt from the planning process — hints at the boards being installed in preparation for election campaigning.

Billboards used for political adverts do not require planning permission but cannot be put up more than three months before a general election, referendum or local council election, suggesting an election could be less than three months away.

Should this be the case, it would not be the first time; billboards have littered the country during previous elections and even been left in place afterwards for commercial use in violation of regulations.

Some recent billboards were advertising the Labour Party’s annual May 1 mass meeting with the words “niltaqgħu l-Belt" (“We meet in Valletta”), while others were spotted advertising €25 million local council funding provided by the Public Works Ministry.

National energy company Enemalta, well-known children’s cancer charity Puttinu Cares and Labour-owned media outlet The Journal also featured.

Different coloured stickers — green and yellow — displaying unique numbers could be seen affixed to the billboards.

Adverts for Labour's May 1 mass meeting featured yellow stickers. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.

There were considerably fewer green-stickered billboards than yellow. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.

While it is not immediately clear what the numbers represent, they could be used for numbering the billboards; should this be the case, the presence of numbers surpassing 100 seen on some signs suggests there could be at least that many billboards nationwide.

Although it remains unclear what the colours of the stickers represent, Times of Malta noticed that adverts for the Labour Party’s May 1 political event, Enemalta, the Public Works Ministry and The Journal all featured yellow stickers.

Adverts for Puttinu Cares featured green stickers.

The number of yellow stickers far outweighed the number of green stickers in the sample of billboards examined by Times of Malta.

Unlike more permanent billboards featuring concrete bases, the recent additions to Malta’s roads do not display Planning Authority permit application numbers, suggesting they are to be used for political advertising.

While 2016 regulations require that roadside billboards require permission from the Planning Authority — then the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) — political adverts are exempt from this requirement.

Commercial billboards require planning permission, unlike political adverts. the recent slew of billboards did not feature planning permit numbers. Photo: Jonathan Borg.

Political adverts relate “exclusively” to general elections, referendums or local council elections, and should not be displayed more than three months before one takes place, the regulations say, suggesting a general election could be less than three months away.

Election rumours swirl

While Prime Minister Robert Abela yesterday insisted that holding the Labour Party’s pre-electoral congress next week “does not necessarily mean" he will call a general election before summer, an election is widely believed to take place in the coming months.

Last month, Times of Malta reported that election candidates were calling for “helpers” as rumours that Malta is set to go to the polls in the coming months continued to swirl. Earlier in March, Labour insiders said the party was preparing for the possibility of a snap election in June.

Speaking during Freedom Day celebrations less than two weeks ago, Abela kept the audience on edge as he spoke of the government’s need for the people’s “support” – without pulling the electoral trigger.

Abela spoke of the need for the people's "support" at Freedom Day celebrations - but did not pull the electoral trigger. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier.

One PL official told Times of Malta that night that while it would have been unrealistic to expect the prime minister to announce an election during Holy Week, “at one point [during his speech] I was sure he was going to do it”.

The last four general elections have all taken place in Spring or early Summer; the last election, in 2022, was held in March, while the 2017 election took place in June. Elections in 2008 and 2013 were both held in March.