The 2017 election broke the status quo that had dominated Maltese politics since Independence.

For the first time in 50 years, a third party had made it to the House of Representatives.

The Partit Demokratiku, in coalition with the Nationalist Party in what was known as the Forza Nazzjonali, elected two representatives, Godfrey Farrugia and Marlene Farrugia.

In the previous 11 national elections held between 1966 and 2013, only the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party had secured seats in the Maltese Parliament. There was one time, between 1989 and 1992, that Alternattiva Demokratika had a seat in the House, but its representative, Wenzu Mintoff, had been elected two years earlier for the Labour Party, and then resigned to represent the then newly-formed AD, of which he was the first leader. Mintoff lost that seat when he represented AD in the 1992 election.

Since Independence it is evident that small parties found it impossible to break the duopoly in the Maltese Parliament – until the Farrugia couple’s achievement rekindled the hope that things had started to change.

But this sensation has been short-lived as, even before we reach the halfway stage of this legislature, both Godfrey and Marlene have already announced that they will not be contesting the next election, slated for 2022.

Any questions as to whether Godfrey and Marlene would have been able to repeat their 2017 success – now on their own, not as part of a PN-PD coalition – have now been already answered in the negative. But their declaration goes beyond this; it will probably mean that Malta will revert to having a two-party situation in the House. It is highly unlikely that any other candidate representing small parties or contesting as an independent will make it.

The Farrugias’ resignation is to be seen as another blow to small parties, who keep on losing their best people, or the ones who are the most popular, meaning that the little political strength they have continues to dwindle. It is happening to the PD, which has been in existence for less than three years, in the same way it happened to Alternattiva Demokratika, which has been in operation for three decades.

Over these 30 years, AD lost too many of its most representative politicians, including the already-mentioned Wenzu Mintoff, and also Toni Abela, Peppi Azzopardi, Saviour Balzan, and later Harry Vassallo to the more recent Michael Briguglio and Arnold Cassola.

Before the announcement made by the Farrugias, there was some talk that AD and PD were on the road towards joining forces. The idea was to amalgamate the limited resources under one roof – if the two sides managed to overcome the ideological differences that were certainly an obstacle towards reaching common ground. Whether this plan will continue to be pursued now is anyone’s guess.

But what is sure is that the small political parties’ future looks very bleak. AD’s election results continue to go from bad to worse from one election to another and, as said earlier, without Godfrey and Marlene PD are set to suffer the same fate.

It’s a pity, because the role of small parties is important in a democratic society.