History, Mintoff's Government

In elections in June 1971, Olivier’s Nationalist Party was defeated by the Labour Party, and Dominic Mintoff became prime minister of a Labour cabinet. He changed the form of the island’s government to that of a republic in 1974.

In the subsequent years the country’s politics became violently polarized, and Mintoff was accused of strong-arm tactics. Claiming nonalignment in international affairs, the country declined in 1979 to renew the agreement under which British troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had rented facilities on the island. Malta and Libya cooperated closely in the late 1970s, but relations were strained in 1980 by a dispute over oil-drilling rights in Mediterranean waters. In December 1981 Mintoff’s government won a mandate for a third five-year term in office; in December 1984, however, Mintoff resigned and was succeeded as prime minister by his education minister, Carmelo Mifsud-Bonnici. After 16 years out of power, the Nationalist Party won the national election of May 1987, and its leader, Eddie Fenech-Adami, became prime minister.