Women win 12 seats in parliament, more than doubling their 2022 tally
At this stage in 2022, women had won just five seats
Women won 12 seats in Saturday’s election, more than doubling their tally over 2022, when just five seats went to women on counting day.
In 2022, just four women made it to parliament by the time the initial count had concluded, with Miriam Dalli elected in two districts. The result marked the lowest tally for women in 20 years. They were later joined by several others who were elected through casual elections.
An additional 12 women were elected to parliament through the gender corrective mechanism, for a final tally of 22 female MPs.
Women have fared far better this time around, with ten women winning 12 out of the 67 parliamentary seats allocated on Sunday.
Five women on the Labour ticket were declared elected on Sunday, including several familiar faces.
Julia Farrugia, and Alison Zerafa Civelli, two of the four women who were elected at their first try four years ago, will be returning to parliament, as will Miriam Dalli.
Rosianne Cutajar, elected through a casual election four years ago, also made it through directly this time.
Meanwhile, Alicia Bugeja Said, previously elected through the gender quota mechanism, was now elected on her own steam.
Meanwhile, the PN elected four women, including Graziella Galea, the only woman to be elected directly on the party ticket four years ago.
The PN benches will also feature Paula Mifsud Bonnici and Rebekah Borg, both of whom were elected through a casual election in 2022.
Borg performed particularly strongly, making it to parliament on two districts.
Eve Borg Bonello has also been elected directly to parliament this time, having previously made it through the gender quota.
Janice Abela Chetcuti was elected through the proportionality mechanism.
This means that five of the PN’s 13 women candidates made it directly to parliament, while Labour elected five of its 28 women candidates.
The ten women currently elected are likely to be joined by several others once casual elections are held, with the gender corrective mechanism expected to kick in at a later stage.