Democratic Party (Malta)

Farrugia stated in January 2017 that the PD was "close" to forming a deal with the opposition Nationalist Party where the two parties would cooperate against the Labour government, though she did not specify if such a deal would be a formal coalition.[7] On 7 April 2017 Farrugia confirmed in an interview with the Times of Malta that PD candidates would be listed as Nationalist Party candidates on the ballot for the 2017 general election.[8] Despite reaching agreement about running candidates under the same banner, formal coalition negotiations remained ongoing[9] until the announcement of a formal agreement on 28 April.[10] Under the agreement, PD candidates contested the 2017 election with their party affiliation listed as Nationalist "tal-oranġjo" (the orange ones) and any PD candidates elected to Parliament would have been part of a Nationalist-led government.[10] Both Marlene Farrugia and Godfrey Farrugia were the only Democratic Party candidates to be elected in 2017, making them the first elected Members of Parliament from a third party since 1962.[11]

Marlene Farrugia formally resigned from the Leadership of the Partit Demokratiku on 21 August 2017, as part of the process of giving the party an identity distinct from herself.[12] On 30 October 2017, Anthony Buttigieg was declared the new leader, with Marlene Farrugia and Godfrey Farrugia providing parliamentary continuity in the executive.[13] On 1 December 2017 the PD was admitted into the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party,[14] which made the party's image officially considered pro-European.

PD contested for the 2019 European parliament elections, their first outing in European elections. They announced the approval of 3 European parliamentary election candidates, Martin Cauchi Inglott, a senior retired Armed Forces of Malta officer and the current secretary general of the party, and Anthony Buttigieg, the former leader of the party, and Cami Appelgren, an environmental activist and the leader of the environmental organization Malta Clean Up. PD failed to secure any seats, winning 5,276 votes, or 2.03% of the votes cast.[15]

PD contested for the 2019 local council elections. PD announced the approval of 7 local council election candidates: Timothy Alden for Sliema, Ray Azzopardi for St. Julian's, Mark Zerafa for Birkirkara, Karen Vella Freeman for St. Paul's Bay, Charles Polidano for Qrendi, Michael Bonett for Valletta, and Manuel Farrugia for Tarxien.[16] The party failed to elect any of its candidates.[17]