[9][10] The Democratic Alternative, and Marlene Farrugia's Democratic Party, performed abysmally in the previous election, with AD garnering only 1977 first-preference votes (0.77%) around Malta and Gozo and losing its only local council seat in Attard held by party secretary Ralph Cassar, and PD garnering only 555 first-preference votes (0.21%), gaining no seats.

[14] Since and before 2019, there has been much criticism by the Nationalist opposition and civil society groups that Malta and Gozo local council's powers have, under a Labour Party administration, been watered down and concentrated more on Castille.

[21][22] If these plans are put to effect, Malta would be the first country in the EU (and the European continent) to lower the minimum age required to serve as mayor.

Some mayors such as Swieqi's Noel Muscat and Sliema's John Pillow decried an "uncontrollable" and "unbearable" garbage problem with the latter even resorting to naming and shaming.

[24][25] The Nationalist Party had also stated in a press conference that "councils are being faced by “immense pressure” without having any control over the situation, which is in turn affecting the country's reputation".

Nationalist MP Eve Borg Bonello posted a Facebook video calling Minister for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise Miriam Dalli a "pseudo green warrior who recently faced a national embarrassment".[relevant?

][26] On 4 September 2023, Labour Party television channel ONE TV claimed through an "exclusive report" to have revealed a private recording of a voice message sent by Pillow to a Sliema resident in the advent of a Nationalist Party press conference one the same subject, where according to ONE, Pillow claimed he left garbage uncollected on purpose to show journalists the state of his town to the media in the press conference.

[27] Pillow rebutted the report as manipulative, calling it out as a "heinous lie" in a Facebook post, playing in public the concerned voice message recording in full.

One of the most notable cases was the blocking of a development in Gżira where Labour Party Mayor Conrad Borg Manché and the Gżira Local Council won an appeal case against the Lands Authority which granted back to the Council jurisdiction and control of the Yacht Marina Garden, as opposed to allowing the Authority to proceed with plans to relocate the petrol station to the garden.

[31][32][33][34] In March 2023, a landmark ruling in Santa Luċija, Malta by Chief Judge Mark Chetcuti cancelled an Environment and Review Tribunal permit that proposed a 5-storey development which would have ruined the uniformity of a street containing only 2-storey houses.

In this case, the minority leader criticised Labour Party Mayor Charmaine St John and Vice-Mayor Frederick Cutajar who according to Sciberras, defended the developer instead of the resident objectors.

[37] Another similar case is a 20-year battle against a Ħondoq ir-Rummien "megaproject" ended also successfully for the local populace and Qala mayor Paul Buttiġieġ.

[42][43] The People's Party also released a statement supporting the local council and the Rabat residents, however also proposing that 'outside development zones' or ODZs be granted constitutional protection, meaning that construction in these areas would be constrained by a 2/3 vote in Parliament or in a referendum.

[48][additional citation(s) needed] Similarly in August 2023, a whistleblower made claims that deceased people's identities were used to vote for the Labour Party in the 2022 general election.

The Labour Party did not answer a similar question posed by Newsbook, while AD+PD and Volt confirmed that they will be participating in the election, but were not in the situation to provide information.