Malta has become the first EU country to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to become mayors and deputy mayors after parliament unanimously approved a new bill on Monday.

With the new law, councillors under the age of 18 who win the highest number of votes from the party that gets the majority of votes can take up the post of mayor or deputy mayor.

The law will enter into force when President George Vella signs it in the coming days and Malta could see its first 16 and 17-year-old mayors by the next local council elections in June.

In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), local government minister Owen Bonnici hailed it as a "groundbreaking legislation".

16 and 17-year-olds could, up until now, vote and contest local council elections, but they could not become mayor or deputy mayor, even if they receive the highest or second-highest number of first-count votes.

They were first granted the right to vote in local council elections in 2014, and that right was extended to national and EU Parliament elections in 2018.

The new law also includes an amendment that will allow mayors under 18 to be able to sign legal documents, such as contracts and cheques, on the local council's behalf.

The bill also proposes an amendment that would make the council's mayor and executive secretary "jointly responsible" for representing the council in legal spheres, meaning both can sue - or be sued - on the council's behalf.

The plan to allow 16-year-olds to become mayors and deputy mayors was included in Labour's electoral manifesto and the government’s ‘National Strategic Vision for Local Governments’ document published back in May.

The Nationalist Party had also proposed last year that 16-year-olds should be allowed to take up the post of mayor if elected to their local council.

When the new law was announced in October it expectedly stirred different emotions.

Several mayors hit back at it, saying 16 and 17-year-olds lacked life experience to deal with the top job in a local council.

Other councillors, however, believed the enthusiasm of young mayors could inject life into councils.