Executive Branch
Under its 1964 constitution, Malta became a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was sovereign of Malta, and a Governor-General exercised executive authority on her behalf, while the actual direction and control of the government and the nation's affairs were in the hands of the cabinet under the leadership of a Maltese prime minister.
On December 13, 1974, the constitution was revised, and Malta became a republic within the Commonwealth, with executive authority vested in the President of Malta which can be exercised directly or through officers subordinate to him. The president is elected by the House of Representatives for a five-year term. He appoints as Prime Minister the leader of the party with a majority of seats in the unicameral House of Representatives, known in Maltese as Kamra tad-Deputati.
The President also nominally appoints, upon recommendation of the Prime Minister, the individual ministers. Ministers are selected from among the members of the House of Representatives, which usually consists of 65 members unless bonus seats are given to a party which gains an absolute majority of votes but not a Parliamentary majority. Elections must be held at least every 5 years and the electoral system used is single transferable vote.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Malta
Famous quotes containing the words executive and/or branch:
“When you give power to an executive you do not know who will be filling that position when the time of crisis comes.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“What can the dove of Jesus give
You now but wisdom, exile? Stand and live,
The dove has brought an olive branch to eat.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)