Alfred Sant

Alfred Sant,KUOM(born 28 February 1948) is aMaltesepolitician and a novelist. He led theLabour Partyfrom 1992 to 2008 and served asPrime Minister of Maltabetween 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1992 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2008. Sant is an established writer andplaywrightand has published several books.

Alfred Sant KUOM
Sant in 2012
11thPrime Minister of Malta
In office 28 October 1996 – 6 September 1998
President	Ugo Mifsud Bonnici
Preceded by	Eddie Fenech Adami
Succeeded by	Eddie Fenech Adami
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 26 March 1992 – 6 June 2008
Preceded by	Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici
Succeeded by	Joseph Muscat
Leader of the Opposition
In office 6 September 1998 – 5 June 2008
President	Ugo Mifsud Bonnici
Prime Minister	Eddie Fenech Adami Lawrence Gonzi
Preceded by	Eddie Fenech Adami
Succeeded by	Charles Mangion(Acting);Joseph Muscat
In office 26 March 1992 – 28 October 1996
President	Ċensu Tabone Ugo Mifsud Bonnici
Prime Minister	Eddie Fenech Adami
Preceded by	Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici
Succeeded by	Eddie Fenech Adami
Member of the European Parliament forMalta
In office 1 July 2014 – 8 June 2024
Personal details
Born	(1948-02-28)28 February 1948 Pietà,Crown Colony of Malta
Political party	Labour
Education	University of Malta(BSc,MSc) École nationale d'administration(MPA) Boston University(MBA) Harvard University(DBA)
Website	Official website

Biography

Studies and career

Sant graduated from theUniversity of Maltaas Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics in 1967 and as Master of Science inPhysicsin the following year. He studied public administration in 1970 at theInstitut International d'Administration Publiqueof theÉcole Nationale d'Administration(ENA) inParis.

Sant served as second, and then first secretary at the Mission ofMaltato theEuropean CommunitiesinBrusselsbetween 1970 and 1975 when he resigned to undertake full-time studies in the USA. He completed a Master of Business Management (with honors) fromBoston University Graduate School of Managementin 1976 and graduated aDoctor of Business AdministrationfromHarvard Business Schoolin 1979.

Between 1977 and 1978 Sant served as advisor on general and financial management at the Ministry of Parastatal and People's Industries in 1977–1978, and then as the managing director of Medina Consulting Group in 1978–1980. Sant returned to the public sector in 1980 as executive deputy chairman with the Malta Development Corporation. As of 1982 he started working as a private consultant.

Sant's first political post with theLabour Partywas as chair of its Department of Information (1982–92). During this time he also served as President of the Party (1984–88) and chaired the Guze Ellul Mercer Foundation of theMalta Labour Partyand theGeneral Workers' Union.He served a stint as the editor of the Party weeklyIl-Ħelsien(1987–88).

In 1988–89, he chaired a party working group on the relations with theEuropean Community,whose report was then published in English and Maltese. Another study by Sant, entitled "Malta's European Challenge", was published in 1995, and focused on the need for Malta to establish the best possible relations with theEuropean Unioncompatible with Malta's position at the centre of theMediterranean.

Sant firststood for election in 1987;although he was unsuccessful, he was co-opted to Parliament later that year. In 1992, following the resignation ofKarmenu Mifsud Bonnici,he was elected as party leader.

Prime Minister in 1996-98

TheLabour Partywon theOctober 1996 electionsunder Sant who campaigned for the removal of theValue Added Tax(VAT) that had been introduced in 1995 as an unpopular but required step towards EU accession.A year after taking office, the government replaced VAT by a similarindirect tax,the Customs and Excise Tax (CET). The government also froze Malta's application for EU membership, which had been submitted by the previous Nationalist government.

Sant's tenure as Prime Minister lasted only 22 months. Enjoying only a one-seat majority in Parliament, the Government was vulnerable to threats from former Prime Minister and Labour leaderDom Mintoff.Things came to a head in the summer of 1998 when a row with Mintoff over a coastal concession to a private company resulted in the Government being defeated on the motion transferring the land. Sant felt that the government's parliamentary majority was compromised and asked the President to dissolve the House. In thesubsequent snap elections held in September 1998theLabour Partywas defeated.

2003 Referendum and election

The Nationalist party, back in power, reactivated Malta's EU membership bid. Alfred Sant stayed on as leader of the opposition and campaigned against Malta's accession into theEuropean Union.

In the run-up tothe March 2003 referendum on EU accession,Sant was also critical of what he called a "sham referendum" insisting that a general election alone would settle the EU membership issue. He called on Labour supporters to either vote No, abstain or invalidate their vote. He himself abstained. The Yes side won the referendum by 54% with over 90% turnout - but Sant claimed that this was fewer than half of all eligible voters. On the basis of this "puzzling" interpretation, both sides were claiming victory in the streets. In view of the lack of consensus on the interpretation of the result, Prime MinisterEddie Fenech Adamiasked the President to dissolve the Parliament and call for fresh elections. These wereheld in April 2003and theLabour Partywas again defeated at the polls.

Sant tendered his resignation as party leader. He did, however, stand for election for Party leader again which was contested by two other candidates for the post,John Attard MontaltoandAngelo Farrugia.Sant was re-elected party leader with 66% of votes cast by Labour Party delegates and returned to lead the Party.

2008 general election

TheLabour Party,spearheaded by Sant, presented a new programmePjan għal bidu ġdid(Plan for a new beginning) and called forBżonn ta' Bidla(The need for a Change) after the 20 years (save for his brief stint from 1996 to 1998) ofNationalistgovernment. The electoral programme contained references to overhauls in the educational system (which proved to be extremely controversial), reduction of an electricitysurchargeby half, and tax breaks on overtime work.

At the2008 Maltese general electionSant was defeated for the third consecutive time, this time byLawrence Gonzi,on a slim margin of only 1,580 votes. Following the loss of the election, Sant resigned as leader of theLabour Partyon 10 March 2008, and as Leader of the Opposition on 5 June 2008; he was succeeded as party leader byJoseph Muscatand as leader of the opposition byCharles Mangion.He retained his Parliamentary seat.

2014 European Parliament election

Sant announced that he would stand as a Labour Party candidate in the2014 European Parliament election,despite his previous opposition to EU membership for Malta.He received 48,739 votes, which elected him outright, acquiring more votes than any other candidate.He was re-elected in 2019 but decided not to stand for re-election in 2024.

Literary works and journalism

Alfred Sant is also an established and prolific novelist, short story writer and playwright. His published works include plays, short stories, novels, and non-fiction.

Plays

• Min Hu Evelyn Costa?(1979)
• Fid-Dell tal-Katidral(1994)
• Qabel Tiftaħ l-Inkjesta(1999)

Short story collections

• Kwart ta' Mija(1995)
• Pupu fil-Baħar(2009)

Novels

• L-Ewwel Weraq tal-Bajtar(1968)
• Bejgħ u Xiri(1981)
• Silġ fuq Kemmuna(1982)
• La Bidu, La Tmiem(2001)
• L-Għalqa tal-Iskarjota(2009)
• George Bush f'Malta(2013)

Non-fiction works

• Collection of political essays,L-Impenn għall-Bidla(1986)
• Chronicle (political),It-28 ta' April 1958(1988)
• Malta's European Challenge(1995)
• Confessions of a European Maltese(2003 autobiography)
• Is-Soċjaliżmu fi Żminijietna(2004)

Other writings

Sant editedTomorrow,a monthly English-language magazine (1982–1985), and ofSociety,a quarterly opinion magazine, apart from authoring numerous articles. Sant also contributed regularly to theGeneral Workers' Union's Sunday Maltese-language newspaperIt-Torċauntil March 2008.

Honours

National honours

• Malta:Companion of Honour of theNational Order of Merit(1996)by right as a Prime Minister of Malta

See also

• Prime Minister of Malta
• List of prime ministers of Malta
• Frans Sammut(2008):Alfred Sant: Il-Vizjoni ghall-Bidla

External links

• Media related toAlfred Santat Wikimedia Commons
• www.alfredsant.eu