The party was established in 1920 by a merger of the Malta Political Association and the Patriotic Committee.
[1] It emerged as the largest party in Parliament as a result of the 1921 elections, and its leader Joseph Howard became the country's first Prime Minister.
The 1924 elections saw the party reduced to ten seats, and it had to form a coalition with the Democratic Nationalist Party to stay in power.
[1] In 1947 the Democratic Action Party was established as a revived Maltese Political Union.
[2] The party sought to give the Italian language equal status with English in education and to progress towards self-government.