Parliament has approved amendments to the Local Councils Act which increase the terms of local councils to five years and do away with the next scheduled round of local elections, which was set to take place in 2017.

At present, councillors are elected for four-year terms, and half of Malta's 68 local councils are up for election every two years.

But the government has proposed that instead, local councils should only be held every five years, with the elections timed to coincide with the European Parliament elections.

The proposal has been strongly criticised by the Nationalist Party in opposition, whose leader Simon Busuttil described it as anti-democratic and anti-liberal in nature.

The PN had questioned the government's arguments that the plans aimed to save costs and address electoral fatigue, stating that it was dangerous to argue against holding elections for financial reasons and pointing out that electoral turnout was higher than the typical turnout in elections elsewhere in Europe.

But ultimately, there was little the opposition could do as the government stuck to its guns, and the amendments were approved on party lines.

There were 34 votes in favour and 29 against as a number of MPs were absent, including government MP Marlene Farrugia, who has frequently criticised the government on environmental and other issues.

Electronic voting was tested for the first time, although the traditional voting method was also held, with deputy speaker Ċensu Galea noting that the latter would be considered binding in case of a discrepancy.

As it happened, such a discrepancy did take place, prompting Mr Galea to point out that a number of MPs failed to push the right button.