Post-War (1945-53)
The Constitutional Party did not contest the election for the Council of Government of 1945. The death of Strickland, the aftermath of the war, the first feelings of anticolonialism and the political wind blowing in favour of the Labour Party, probably convinced the Party leadership to stay out of the election. The Party did not even stand for the 1947 elections for the Legislative Assembly, the first held after the restoration of responsible government to Malta.
The Party's candidates, however, were on the ballot papers for the 1950 elections. In this election, the Party managed to elect four deputies in a Legislative Assembly of 40. The MPs elected included Mabel Strickland, Gerald's daughter.
The Party managed to hold on to its four seats in the election in the following year but Mabel Strickland had to resign after her the publishing company won a major government contract. Strickland was also at odds with the other Party MPs who, in the emerging Two-party system, tended to side with Labour leader Mintoff.
Mabel Strickland went on to form the splinter Progressive Constitutional Party but neither party gained seats in the general election of 1953. After this defeat the Constitutional Party was dissolved.
Read more about this topic: Constitutional Party (Malta)
Famous quotes containing the word post-war:
“Much of what Mr. Wallace calls his global thinking is, no matter how you slice it, still “globaloney.” Mr. Wallace’s warp of sense and his woof of nonsense is very tricky cloth out of which to cut the pattern of a post-war world.”
—Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987)