We are not funded or affiliated with any political party, in Malta or elsewhere. Our work is civic: we help people understand their rights, use them, and be heard where they live.
✅ Check whether you're already registered
You need three things: your Maltese ID or eResidence card number, your surname, and your date of birth.
→ Check on the Electoral Commission website
Or call the Electoral Office on 2558 3000 and ask. They'll tell you on the phone.
Can you vote? Find yourself below.
🇪🇺 You're an EU citizen living in Malta
Yes, two of the three ballots.
| 🏘️ Local council elections | ✅ Yes, and you can stand as a candidate |
| 🇪🇺 European Parliament | ✅ Yes, but you must choose Malta or your home country. Not both |
| 🏛️ General elections | ❌ No, reserved for Maltese citizens |
Minimum age: 16. You must be officially resident in Malta and hold a valid identity or eResidence card.
🇬🇧 You're a British national living in Malta
Yes, and this surprises almost everyone.
| 🏘️ Local council elections | ✅ Yes, and you can stand as a candidate |
| 🇪🇺 European Parliament | ❌ No |
| 🏛️ General elections | ❌ No |
Brexit did not take away your local vote. British citizens could already vote and stand in Maltese local council elections between 1993 and 2003, before Malta joined the EU. The right predates the EU, and it was never withdrawn.
If you're British and living in Malta, check whether you're on the register. You may have a vote you didn't know you had.
🌍 You're any other non-EU national
No, not yet.
American, Indian, Filipino, Serbian, Brazilian, Nigerian, and every other third-country national: you cannot currently vote in any Maltese election, not even for the local council that decides what happens on your street.
You pay tax here. You pay social security here. You have no ballot in any of it.
This is the gap ExpatVoice exists to close. And here is the argument that matters: Malta already grants local voting rights to a non-EU nationality, British nationals, and has done so since 1993. The principle is established in Maltese law. It is a question of who it is extended to.
🇲🇹 You're a Maltese citizen (including by naturalisation)
Yes, all three ballots. You must be on the General Elections Electoral Register, which requires you to have resided in Malta for at least six months out of the previous eighteen.
How registration actually works
It is not a separate errand at a government office. This is the thing almost every expat guide gets wrong.
🅰️ Applying for your residence card now?
Registration is built into the process. When you apply for your eResidence Card or eIdentity Card, you are given a form to be registered as a voter in the Local Councils Electoral Register, and you're asked whether you also want to vote in Malta for the European Parliament.
⚠️ Read that second question carefully. See the warning below.
🅱️ Already have your card, but not on the register?
The Electoral Commission publishes the form. Once completed and signed, you can hand it in, free of charge, at:
- 📮 Free post to the Electoral Commission, Evans Building, Merchant Street, Valletta
- 🏛️ Any local council office
- 👮 Any police station
💡 Almost nobody knows this: local councils and the police are required by electoral law to accept your form, pass it on free of charge, and give you a receipt. You don't have to go to Valletta. Always ask for the receipt.
→ Read the full step-by-step guide
⚠️ The one box that costs you your vote back home
If you're an EU citizen and you register to vote in Malta for the European Parliament, you are giving up your right to vote in that same election in your home country. The Electoral Commission informs your home authority so you cannot vote twice.
This is a real choice, and many people tick the box without noticing.
- Vote in Malta if this is where your life is.
- Vote at home if your political ties there matter more to you.
Neither is wrong. Just make it deliberately.
✅ This applies only to the European Parliament election. Registering for local council elections in Malta costs you nothing at home.
Changed your mind? You can switch. Fill in the form again and submit it the same way.
Deadlines
The Electoral Register is revised and published twice a year: April and October.
To be safe, submit your form:
- before 31 March, or
- before 30 September
Applications after a cut-off go into the next revision. Not lost, but not in time.
Check electoral.gov.mt for the current dates and for the date of the next local council elections. We don't guess at election dates here.
Moving house?
Update the address on your card with Identità. That's all. The Electoral Register follows automatically.
If you don't, you stay registered in your old locality, and your voting document goes to your old address.
Common mistakes
- ❌ Assuming you're not registered. Many EU expats already are. Check first.
- ❌ Assuming Brexit ended your vote. If you're British, it didn't, not locally.
- ❌ Ticking the European Parliament box without understanding it. It costs you your vote at home.
- ❌ Waiting until an election is called. The register closes; you go into the next revision.
- ❌ Moving house and not updating your card. Your vote stays in your old town.
Official sources
- Electoral Commission of Malta, check your registration, forms, deadlines, and the date of the next election. ☎️ 2558 3000 · 📍 Evans Building, Merchant Street, Valletta.
- Electoral Commission, FAQs, the three electoral registers and who belongs on each.
- Electoral Commission, European Elections and Local Councils, registration for EU nationals and the European Parliament choice.
- Identità, residence documentation and the eResidence Card.
📅 Last verified: 12 July 2026 · See our Editorial & Accuracy Policy for how we verify what we publish.