Constitutional Party (Malta) - First Years (1921-27)

First Years (1921-27)

The party did surprisingly well in the first election considering that everyone thought that Strickland's previous unpopularity would harm his chances. In the elections to the Legislative Assembly it obtained 25.31% of the first preference votes and elected 7 MPs out of 32. Strickland was appointed Leader of the Opposition.

While still remaining in opposition, the party made considerable gains in the 1924 elections: 33.95% of the vote and 10 MPs, as many seats as the Maltese Political Union which, until then, had been the largest party in the Assembly. The party also elected two of the four Gozitan MPs which was considered an incredible feat.

With the coalition between the Maltese Political Union and the Democratic Nationalist Party and their eventual merger into the Nationalist Party some sort of rapproachment between the Constitutionals and Labour, the other party in the Assembly, was inevitable. The parties, in fact, agreed to an electoral alliance known as the "Compact" for the elections of 1927. Labour's and the Constitutional's similar stances on various policy-areas (such as public education) made this alliance more workable.