Timeline of the 1998 election

MONDAY 5TH APRIL 1999
Dr. Michael Frendo is returned to Parliament in a bye-election to 
fill the seat made vacant by Prof. de Marco's resignation a week before.

SUNDAY 4TH APRIL 1999
Prof. Guido de Marco is sworn in as the 6th President of the Republic of Malta.
 He succeeds Dr. Ugo Mifsud Bonnici who had has served his 5-year term.

TUESDAY 30TH MARCH 1999
Prof. Guido de Marco resigns as a Member of Parliament as Minister of 
Foreign Affairs as the first step towards his nomination as 
President of the Republic of Malta. 
Changes in the Maltese Cabinet are made. Dr. Joe Borg is 
promoted from Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for Foreign Affairs.  
Dr. Austin Gatt is promoted from Parliamentary Secretary
to Minister for Justice and Local Councils.

SATURDAY 24TH OCTOBER 1998
The opening session of the 8th Legislature and Parliament 
since Independence in 1964

FRIDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER
Dr. Alfred Sant is re-elected leader of the Malta Labour Party with 97.5% 
of the votes cast by delegates during the Party General Conference.

THURSDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER
Following the casual elections, 7 Parliamentary Secretaries have been sworn in.
Here are the name and where they will serve: 

Austin Gatt - Office of the Prime Minister 
Jesmond Mugliette - Ministry of Education 
George Hyzler - Ministry for Economic Services 
Edwin Vassallo - Ministry for Economic Services 
George Pullicino - Ministry for Internal Affairs 
Antoine Mifsud Bonnici - Ministry for Social Policy 
Joe Borg - Ministry for Foreign Affairs

WEDNESDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER
Casual Elections are held today to elect 8 new Members of Parliament 
to take the place of candidates elected from two electoral districts.  

The elected MPs are: 
for PN - Dolores Christina (new), Austin Gatt, Michael Asciak, Helen D'Amato
for the MLP - Joseph Cuschieri (new), Joseph M. Sammut(new), 
Gavin Gulia and Chris Cardona.
The new Parliament has a record number of women, 6, 3 from each party.

SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
Official celebrations by the PN end today with a mass meeting in Rabat Gozo.

THRUSDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
PN Executive Council meets to decide which districts
 should be ceded by PN MPs elected from two districts.


18:00 WEDNESDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER
MLP Executive meets to decide when to hold the Party general conference 
that will decide who will lead the party in the next five years.  
Decision was also taken on which districts should be 
ceded by MLP MPs elected from two districts.

TUESDAY 8TH  SEPTEMBER
Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami announces his Cabinet.

19:30 TUESDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
PN holds mass meeting on the Fosos at Floriana to celebrate victory.

MORNING TUESDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Counting at Ta' Qali has ended. However, there is still need for by-election 
to elect more deputies from districts where candidates have been elected 
from two districts.

19:45 MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami makes his first address to the nation.  
Says the country has several economic, moral and social problems 
that have to be addressed, but he has confidence in the Maltese people. 
He thanked the Maltese people for showing their support to the PN.

19:30 MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
MLP leader Dr. Alfred Sant, in an interview on MLP TV station Super One, 
says that MLP has a bright future because it is the party that has 
proved with facts and  not words how much it has worker's conditions at heart.
Asked about his future in the Party, he answers that he will be 
consulting and then the Party will decide.

18:00 MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
MLP leader Alfred Sant sworn in as leader of the Opposition.

10:00 MONDAY 6th SEPTEMBER
Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami enters Castille, the Prime Minister's Office, 
and takes charge. He is welcomed by thousands of PN supporters in Castille Place.
 
04:30 MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
By this time the first count of every electoral district had been issued.
Thus it was officially announced that the PN had won by a majority of 12,841 votes 
over the MLP.  

21:30 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
PN leader Eddie Fenech Adami is sworn in as Prime Minister by 
the President of the Republic.

17:00 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
Thousands of PN supporters carcaded the streets 
all over the Maltese Islands.
There were reports of acts of vandalism on 
MLP supporter's property, like cars and  house doors.
Among the victims was favourite singer Mary Spiteri, 
whose car was sprayed with paint. 
MLP billboards were smashed and vulgar words written on them, 
sometimes under the watchful eyes of police officers. 
PN statement condemns smashing of billboards.

17:10: MLP leader Dr. Alfred Sant arrives at Ta' Qali and concedes defeat.
"I have seen the projections carried out by the MLP
and it is clear that we have been defeated at the polls.  

17:05: PN leader Eddie Fenech Adami confirms victory in 
address from the balcony of the PN headquarters at Pieta'. 
Thousands of PN supporters had gathered there 
by that time to celebrate the victory.

16:45 Searchmalta.com is the first Maltese 
website to announce PN's victory in the general election.

16:15 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
Prof. Scicluna announces possible PN victory with a substantial majority.

15:15 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 
Prof. Edward Scicluna, economist and chairman of the 
Malta Financial Services Centre (MFSC), who is commissioned by 
PBS to make projections, stated Labour have certainly gathered 
less votes than in 1996, and for the moments MLP
and PN are neck to neck with a sample of 5,000 votes.

12:08 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 
Packets of sorted votes are opened and the votes are distributed to
candidates according to the first preferences.  
Political parties start to gather information to make their projections.

10:05 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
After a delay of over 12 hours after the closing of the poll booths, 
the Electoral Commission issues the official turnout: 
96.4% which is a decrease of 0.97% from 1996.

      District 1: 19,788 = -1% from 1996
      District 2: 20,206 = -1.11% from 1996
      District 3: 20,782 = -1.19% from 1996
      District 4: 20,901 = -0.87% from 1996
      District 5: 20,775 = -1.07% from 1996
      District 6: 20,046 = -1.22% from 1996
      District 7: 22,092 = -1.32% from 1996
      District 8: 19,788 = -0.92% from 1996
      District 9: 19,786 = +0.20% from 1996
      District 10: 20,587 = -1.00% from 1996
      District 11: 21,489 = -0.78% from 1996
      District 12: 21,126 = -1.26% from 1996
      District 13: 20,694 = -1.11% from 1996 

      National Total: 268,050 = -0.97% from 1996

01:00 SUNDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
46 ballot boxes from Gozo finally arrive at Ta' Qali, 
the last batch from anywhere.

00:30 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
Nationalist sources say that there was a turnout of 95.4%, less 0.8% than 1996.
Biggest decrease is from the first 7 districts, 
which are predominately Labour districts.

23:15 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
First ballot boxes arrive at Ta' Qali from Sta. Venera. 
There are 598 of them to open. 
Stream of incoming ballot boxes begins.  
They are opened immediately after their arrival.  
Ballots are then flattened and put into packets of 50 upside down 
without the preferences being visible. Counting and sorting according 
to first preferences does not
begin before every single vote is sorted this way.

22:00 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
Voting Closes.  It has been done in a very orderly and calm way.

17:30 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
Dom Mintoff, former Prime Minister and former leader of the MLP, 
casts his vote in Bormla.
He is considered responsible of the downfall of the MLP Government 
after he withdrew  his support in the slim one-seat Government 
majority in Parliament.

15:00 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
Electoral Commission announces that 38% of total votes were cast by noon. 
The average was on the same level of the 1996 Election.  
In the afternoon the number of voters going to vote declines because of the heat,
and increases once again after 17:00

      District 1: 42%
      District 2: 35%
      District 3: 37%
      District 4: 39%
      District 5: 38%
      District 6: 42%
      District 7: 39%
      District 8: 39%
      District 9: 39%
      District 10: 41%
      District 11: 35%
      District 12: 35%
      District 13: 36% 


11:15-13:30 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
Political leaders go to cast their vote: Alfred Sant and Eddie Fenech Adami 
vote in their hometown of Birkirkara, Alleanza chairperson Wenzu Mintoff 
votes in Ghaxaq, and President of the Republic Ugo Mifsud Bonnici votes in Bormla.

07:00 SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER
Polling booths open all over the country.  Some polling booths open a 
few minutes late because of minor administrative hitches.  
278,000 voters are expected to cast their vote in 13 districts 
around Malta and Gozo for 200 candidates.

FRIDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER
After a 33-day electoral campaign in the baking August sun, 
it is a day of reflection for the Maltese electorate.  
Assistant electoral commissioners, 
who will be on duty all day in Election Day, vote at Ta' Qali in advance.

00:00 THURSDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER
Electoral campaign ends 

19:30 THURSDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER
Last activity for major political campaigns: MLP organize a mass meeting at Ta' Qali,
while PN organize their mass meeting on the Fosos of Floriana

7:00 WEDNESDAY 12th AUGUST
Nominations for candidates close. There were nominations for 86 MLP candidates,
94 PN candidates, 18 Alleanza Gustizzja Socjali-Alternattiva Demokratika candidates,
and two independent candidates. 
MLP MPs Dom Mintoff, Alex Sciberras Trigona and Lino Spiteri are not contesting, 
despite rife speculation that Mintoff and Sciberras Trigona 
were to contest on AD's side.

10:30 SATURDAY 8TH AUGUST
Alternattiva Demokratika General Conference decides that it should contest 
the election and change its name to 'Alleanza ghall-Gustizzja Socjali' 
(Alliance for Social Justice)

12:00 MONDAY 3RD AUGUST
Prime Minister Alfred Sant announces an election for the 5th of September 1998,
a little less than 2 years after the previous election held in October 1996.