parliamentary term to be five years (article 76, sub-article 2), or sub-articles defining this procedure (article 66, sub-articles 3 and 4) Such referendum is binding. This type of referendum has never taken place. The other categories of referendums are regulated by the Referenda Act. "Consultative" referendums (the Act does not use the term) can either take place prior to the assent of a bill in the House of Representatives or following the parliamentary procedure in a form of a conditional clause in the said bill. In the former case it would not legally bind Parliament to approve the said legislation irrelevant of the result of the said referendum, however the latter case, it would be conventionally binding on the President to promulgate the bill into law. There has been six referendums like this on a national level, one on a regional level (1973 Gozo Civic Council referendum) and a number of local referendums organised by single Local Councils. An abrogative referendum has never been held and, if invoked and successful, can abrogate pieces of legislation barring some exceptions, notably financial and constitutional law. There was a total of 6 national referendums in Malta. Of those, 3 referendums were held while Malta was a British crown colony. Those were referendums on: eligibility of clergy to sit in the Council of Government in 1870 integration with United Kingdom in 1956 independence from United Kingdom in 1964 Three referendums were held in independent Malta: European Union membership referendum in 2003 referendum on divorce in 2011 referendum on spring hunting in 2015 There was also one local referendum in 1973 in region of Gozo. All seven were non-binding on the colonial and independent government. However, all resulted in a vote in favour of the proposal and, with the exception of the 1956 integration referendum, they were all honoured by the responsible government of the day. See also Electoral calendar Electoral system Voter turnout References External links Electoral Commission Department of Information - Malta Malta Data with details back to 1921 Adam Carr's Election Archive Parties and elections More on the Malta elections 2013