Dolores Cristina is a Maltese

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 politician, currently serving as Minister of Education, Employment and Family.

Early life and education

Cristina was born in Senglea

Senglea

Senglea is a fortified city in the east of Malta, mainly in the Grand Harbour area. It is one of the Three Cities in the east of Malta, the other two being Cospicua and Vittoriosa. The city of Senglea is also called Civitas Invicta, because it managed to resist the Ottoman invasion at the Great...

. She graduated from the Royal University of Malta with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree in 1971 and held teaching posts in History and English at Secondary and Post-Secondary levels.

Political career

Cristina, a member of the Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party (Malta)

The Nationalist Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in Malta, along with the Labour Party. It was founded by Fortunato Mizzi in 1880 as the Anti-Reform Party, opposing taxation decreed by the British colonial authorities and measures to Anglicise the educational and the...

, stood as a candidate in the 1996 general election

Maltese general election, 1996

The election using single transferable vote gave a majority of the 65 district seats to the PN, despite a majority of votes going to the MLP, so the MLP were given four bonus seats to ensure a majority reflecting the popular vote.-Results:...

. In April 1998, She briefly became Mayor of Swieqi

Swieqi

Is-Swieqi is a municipality and town in northeastern Malta. It is a residential area just 15 minutes by bus from Tas-Sliema and within striking distance of Malta's nightlife and entertainment centres, Paceville and St. Julian's. As Is-Swieqi developed, its residential estates took over farmland...

 in April 1998 before being elected to Parliament from the 10th District in the September 1998 general election.

Cristina was re-elected to Parliament from the 9th District in the April 2003 general election

Maltese general election, 2003

General elections were held in Malta on 12 April 2003. They were won by the Nationalist Party on a pro-EU platform....

. Subsequently she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary within the Ministry of Social Policy, with a special focus on Social Housing and Gender Equality. She was later appointed as Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity in a cabinet reshuffle on 23 March 2004, with a portfolio including Social Policy, Family Policy, Child Policy, Solidarity Services, Social Security, Social Housing and Equality.

After the Nationalist victory in the March 2008 general election

Maltese general election, 2008

The latest Maltese general election for the renewal of the House of Representatives of Malta was held on March 8, 2008. The incumbent ruling party the Christian democratic Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, narrowly won over the social democratic Malta Labour Party led by...

, Cristina was appointed as Minister for Education and Culture, replacing the unelected former Minister Louis Galea

Louis Galea

Louis Galea is a Maltese politician who has been Malta's representative on the European Court of Auditors since 2010. Previously he served in the government of Malta as Minister of Education from 1998 to 2008 and was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta from 2008 to 2010.-Education:As a...

.