Now that the election has passed, MPs have been elected and Robert Abela has been sworn-in as the Prime Minister, attention now turns on the formation of the Cabinet of Ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

In the coming hours Abela will be meeting with elected MPs to offer them the portfolios he has in mind for them.

The appointment of the new Cabinet is however not expected until tomorrow. No elected candidates have so far been called up to Castille.

Ministers who performed well in the election will be expecting to retain their place while parliamentary secretaries will hope to be promoted to a ministerial post. Other MPs will also be eager to know what Abela has in mind for them.

Abela will likely retain some ministers in the same responsibilities they had last term, while others will be moved to other portfolios.

One awaits what plans Abela has for Labour's former deputy leader Chris Fearne, who had resigned after being charged in connection with the three hospitals' saga. Fearne was elected from two districts in a show of force.

Another MP who could make a return to the Cabinet is Carmelo Abela, who in the past served as Foreign Minister among other responsibilities.

Ministers who have done well in terms of votes - such as Ian Borg, Michael Falzon, Jonathan Attard, Clyde Caruana and Miriam Dalli - should be getting top positions. Clifton Grima, Byron Camilleri, Silvio Schembri, Jo Etienne Abela, Clint Camilleri, Owen Bonnici and Chris Bonett are all expected to be reconfirmed, although whether they will retain the same portfolio is something we will know later.

Former parliamentary secretaries like Keith Azzopardi Tanti, Alison Zerafa Civelli, Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Glenn Bedingfield and Omar Farrugia would also expect a ministerial post.

It is possible that Abela will keep some posts open to see who of the other candidates will be elected from the casual elections and gender mechanism process. In 2022, Rebecca Buttigieg and Alicia Bugeja Said took their parliamentary secretary post after the whole electoral process had been completed.

One difficulty for Abela is that only two of the MPs elected are new faces, limiting his choices for the junior posts. Added to this, he will have to keep in mind that, as much as possible, all districts need to be represented in the Cabinet.

The last Cabinet appointed by Abela was the largest in history, although he eventually lost two ministers - Clayton Bartolo and Roderick Galdes - who both resigned and were not replaced.