Malta's Recruitment Freeze Tradition Quietly Dropped in 2026

Since Prime Minister Robert Abela announced that Malta's general election would be held on 30 May, government departments have continued publishing recruitment notices, transfer calls, and promotion processes without interruption. OPM sources told The Shift that neither Abela nor Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana has issued any directive instructing the public service to pause those activities.

The Shift sent questions to Sultana's office asking whether such a directive had been issued; those questions went unanswered. That silence marks a departure from one of the most consistently observed conventions in Maltese public administration. Since the Nationalist governments of Eddie Fenech Adami, the announcement of an election has served as the trigger for a restraint period covering new recruitment, discretionary promotions, and fresh appointments.

Alfred Sant's Labour government observed the convention. So did both of Joseph Muscat's administrations. The 2017 precedent is the most directly relevant comparison.

When Muscat called a snap election that year, the Office of the Prime Minister issued a written instruction to ministries and departments: no new recruitment or promotion calls were to be opened for the duration of the campaign. Processes already under way at the moment of the announcement were permitted to run to completion, but the door to fresh ones was closed.

In 2026, recruitment and selection notices have continued to appear in the days since the election was called, and OPM sources confirmed to The Shift that no comparable restraint directives have been introduced. Abela appointed Sultana directly as Principal Permanent Secretary, making him the most senior civil servant in Malta and the official through whom administrative directives to the entire public service would ordinarily flow.

Before that appointment, Sultana occupied senior positions within Labour administrations and is regarded as part of the party's core administrative network. He also chairs MITA, the government's IT agency. A directive of the kind issued in 2017 would, in the normal course, originate from or pass through his office.

Two further allegations sit beyond what current sourcing can establish. The Shift alleges the public service is funding social media advertising to benefit Labour's campaign, though no documentary evidence or named source underpins that claim. The outlet has also previously reported that Sultana's sons Glen and Kyle are conducting polling for the Labour Party, with Sultana himself said to have performed a similar role during the 2022 campaign.

A norm observed by governments of both major parties since the Fenech Adami era has not been applied following the 2026 election call, OPM sources told The Shift. The Office of the Prime Minister has offered no explanation.