President George Vella has officially dissolved Parliament, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced on Sunday afternoon.

Abela went to San Anton Palace to recommend Parliament’s dissolution after he announced during a political party rally in Floriana that the general election would be held on 26 March, in little over a month’s time.

Sharing the news on Facebook, Abela said that the Labour Party would be putting forward an “ambitious plan” for the next legislature.

Parliament’s dissolution means that all pending Acts and Bills have now been shelved. 

This includes the government’s landmark Femicide Bill and a Bill introducing cyberstalking and cyberbullying as a crime, which both still had to go through the Third Reading stage in order to be enacted.

It also means that all proceedings in Parliament’s committees come to halt.

That includes Konrad Mizzi’s testimony in the Public Accounts Committee on the Electrogas Power Station deal – although the process can be restarted once parliament is re-convened with whoever is elected come the end of March and the committee is formed again.