The passage of TIME

How times change! This is how TIME magazine May, 1987 reported the result of the 1987 general election in Malta. At the time a wall in Berlin was still dividing Germany and Europe was split between east and west. Although elections in Malta last year for the European Parliament and local government were both won by the Labour Party, 2005 represents the 18th year of Nationalist rule since that historic election. The new PrimeMinister in 1987 is now in his first year as President of the Republic:

Turning back to the west

Malta lies in the Mediterranean halfway between Western Europe and Libya, and its politics reflects its geography. Since Malta gained independence from Britain in 1964, elections have been decided between the pro-Western Nationalist Party and the Labor Party, which favors close ties to Libya and the East bloc. Now, after 16 years of Labor rule, Maltese voters have elected a Nationalist government.

Once a port of call for NATO warships, Malta under Labor increasingly turned to the Soviet Union, North Korea and Libya for economic and military aid. So close were security ties with Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi that Maltese officials tried to warn Tripoli minutes before last year's U.S. air raid on Libya.

The new Prime Minister, Eddie Fenech Adami, has pledged to abide by the constitution's neutrality clause, but he says, ''This country's place is in Western Europe.''

COPYRIGHT 1987 Time, Inc.

Malta in the TIME archive