Maltese Political Union

The Maltese Political Union (Italian: Unione Politica Maltese, Maltese: Unjoni Politika Maltija) was a political party in Malta.

Maltese Political Union Unjoni Politika Maltija
Leader	Joseph Howard
Founded	1920
Dissolved	1926
Merger of	Malta Political Association Patriotic Committee
Merged into	Nationalist Party
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Politics of Malta Political parties Elections

History

The party was established in 1920 by a merger of the Malta Political Association and the Patriotic Committee.^[1] It emerged as the largest party in Parliament as a result of the 1921 elections, and its leader Joseph Howard became the country's first Prime Minister.^[1] Two of the most popular politicians within the party were Enrico Dandria and Ignazio Panzavecchia, both clerics representing the party in Parliament.

The 1924 elections saw the party reduced to ten seats, and it had to form a coalition with the Democratic Nationalist Party to stay in power. In 1926 the two parties merged to form the Nationalist Party.^[1]

In 1947 the Democratic Action Party was established as a revived Maltese Political Union.^[2]

Ideology

The party sought to give the Italian language equal status with English in education and to progress towards self-government. It also defended the powers of the Catholic church.^[1]

Election results

Legislative Assembly

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Status
1921	Joseph Howard	7,999	39.07	14 / 32	—	1st	Minority government
1924	Francesco Buhagiar	6,553	27.23	10 / 32	4	2nd	Coalition government

Senate

Election	Leader	First preference		Second preference		Elected seats	Position	Status
		Votes	%	Votes	%
1921	Joseph Howard	1,611	57.95	1,635	63.25	4 / 7	1st	Government