With a general election seemingly imminent and matters in certain Parliamentary committees – particularly that involving Konrad Mizzi – heating up, many have questioned what happens to the Parliamentary process when an election is called.

As per Malta’s constitution, when a general election is called, Parliament is automatically dissolved.

That in turn means that any Bills which are still pending fall through, meaning that if they are to be brought back up they would need to be re-filed, with the whole process starting from scratch.

Speculation has abounded as to when the next general election will be held, with the latest rumour being that Prime Minister Robert Abela would set the election date for 12 March – meaning that he would have to dissolve Parliament next week or the week after that.

A vote will be held on Wednesday on the third reading of the Budget and on two other legal notices.  The Budget’s second reading was approved last Thursday in a process which was far more rushed than usual, and the third reading is the only remaining formality for the Budget to be approved.

Those votes would pave the way for Abela to dissolve Parliament and call the general election when he wants.

Another question is on what would happen in the case of Parliament’s standing committees and the items currently on their agenda.

Parliament has a total of 17 standing committees, but the two which have been in the public eye the most – and which will be most affected by the dissolution of Parliament – are the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Standards in Public Life Committee.

It is here that two controversial cases lay pending.

The Public Accounts Committee is currently examining the Auditor General’s report into the awarding of Malta’s gas-fired power station to Electrogas, having heard the testimony of a number of people involved in the matter so far.

The latest person to be heard is something of a “star witness”: former Energy minister Konrad Mizzi.

Mizzi has so far featured in five sittings of the PAC, four of which were taken up by a 700-or-so page presentation which he gave about the project, while the other was taken up by Mizzi obstinately refusing to answer any of the questions put to him owing to the conduct of PN MPs towards him in a previous sitting.

The PN MPs on the committee in fact – particularly Ryan Callus – have lambasted what they described as Mizzi’s “delaying tactics”, saying that the former minister was trying to lengthen the process as much as possible in the hope that the Prime Minister will call a general election and thereby stop his grilling.

The PAC is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday.

The Standards in Public Life Committee meanwhile has been another battleground since the office of the Standards Commissioner was established, having seen discussion on multiple cases of ethics breaches by government MPs.

The latest such case is that of the now former Education Minister Justyne Caruana, over a contract worth €15,000 which she awarded to her close friend Daniel Bogdanovic despite his lack of qualifications for the role.

Caruana was found by the Standards Commissioner George Hyzler to have breached ethics in awarding that contract, but the process on what sanctions the former Minister should face is on hold after she took the matter to the Constitutional Court.

If an election were to be called and therefore Parliament were to be dissolved, both parliamentary committees would have to be re-appointed before either discussion continues.

The discussion can continue where it left off after that process is completed, though.

In Caruana’s case, it is unlikely that she would face sanctions because she will cease to be an MP after the upcoming general elections, having said already that she will not be contesting for a seat in parliament again. A precedent was set when former PM Joseph Muscat evaded sanctions for the reason that he is no longer an MP.