Newly-elected Labour leader Robert Abela will be sworn in as Malta’s 14th prime minister at 3pm on Monday, the Department of Information has announced.
The ceremony will be presided by President George Vella at the palace in Valletta. The new prime minister is then expected to walk from the palace to the Auberge de Castille, greeting people on the way. The ceremony will start at 3pm.
Abela becomes the fourteenth prime minister since Malta was granted self-government in 1921.
Joseph Muscat is to walk out of his office at the Auberge de Castille on Monday afternoon ending his term as PM after six and a half years.
He was elected by a landslide in March 2013 and won by a second landslide in 2017, but failed to complete both five-year terms. The 2017 election was called a year earlier in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.
The longest stint as prime minister in one stretch was that of Labour's Dom Mintoff, who was PM between June 1971 and December 1984, 13 years and six months.
Mintoff was also PM between March 1955 and April 1958, three years and one month, for a total of 16 years and seven months, which is the longest period of time anyone spent as PM.
In second place is the PN's Eddie Fenech Adami, who was prime minister also twice in his career, between May 1987 and October 1996 – nine years and five months; and then between September 1998 and March 2004 – five years and seven months, for a total of 16 years.
George Borg Olivier was then PM twice in his political career, between December 1950 and March 1955 - four years and four months, and then between March 1962 and June 1971, nine years and three months, for a total of 13 years and seven months.
LIST OF PRIME MINISTERS
Joseph Howard: October 1921 – October 1923
Francesco Buhagiar: October 1923 – September 1924
Ugo Mifsud: September 1924 – August 1927
Gerald Strickland: August 1927 – June 1932
Ugo Mifsud: June 1932 – November 1933
Paul Boffa: November 1947 – September 1950
Enrico Mizzi: September 1950 – December 1950
George Borg Olivier: December 1950 – March 1955
Dom Mintoff: March 1955 – April 1958
George Borg Olivier: March 1962 – June 1971
Dom Mintoff: June 1971 – December 1984
Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici: December 1984 – May 1987
Eddie Fenech Adami: May 1987 – October 1996
Alfred Sant: October 1996 – September 1998
Eddie Fenech Adami: September 1998 – March 2004
Lawrence Gonzi: March 2004 – March 2013
Joseph Muscat: March 2013 - January 2020