Governments like to claim that they have a "mandate" to govern. In countries with democratic elections, such a claim will point to the support they received at the election for their leader or their party. Malta is no exception in this regard.
But what kinds of "mandates" have Maltese voters actually given to Maltese governments? It turns out that of the 16 governments installed since 1947 six governments did not have a popular vote majority at all and of the others most (with exceptions like the MLP governments of 1947 and 1955) enjoyed only the narrowest of majorities. In short, voter "mandates" have been in short supply in Malta.
The Table below gives the details. Five of the governments headed by the PN lacked a popular vote majority (1950, 1953, 1962, 1966 and 2008), as did the MLP government of 1981. Several of these governments were of short duration but others enjoyed lengthy terms of office, as their parties had the largest number of the legislative seats despite a lack of support from a majority of the voters.
The Figure reproduced further below offers a graphical illustration of the non-existent or razor-thin "mandates" for Maltese governments since 1947.