A profile of councillors elected to Local Councils held in 1993-1994

Abstract

The set up of Local Councils in our island has established fresh parameters within the two party political sphere. Malta like most other countries has finally decided to decentralise government administration. Local Government now caters for services to be provided and decisions to be made away from the central government offices in Valletta but at the grassroots, that is in every village, by a body of democratically elected representatives. These new institutions would thus crate new identities in Malta's political sphere, a new body of elected novice citizen politicians, with fresh criteria of success and failure. These new institutions would endow some individuals rather than others, with authority and other resources. They would also influence the way in which different personalities become involved in or outside the local communities. These new institutions, would definitely be closer to the people than the normal government bureaucracy, and they would be more familiar with local realities and demands. The study has analysed whether some pattern exists between voters and the Councillors elected. The study aims to provide a picture of the members of these new institutions, together with the different opinions raised by Malta's main political and non-political bodies, together with their reaction towards candidate nomination and selection. It also provides a tentative relationship between the political parties in Britain and Italy, where local councils are concerned as a contrast to the Maltese idea.