After an agonising one-week wait for all local council election candidates, counting of the votes cast in 34 localities in Malta and Gozo was scheduled to begin at 6am today but parking and traffic issues have delayed the process by a good 30 minutes.

The turnout for last week's vote was 68 per cent, though this varied considerably by locality. In the hotly contested St Paul's Bay, only 39 per cent of those eligible to vote cast their ballot.

The highest turnout was registered in Dingli with 87 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballot, followed closely by Safi which saw 86 per cent of people voting.

Despite the low turnout in some localities, the overall turnout is actually higher than the 59 per cent turnout in 2012 when the same local councils were up for election. However, that round of local elections also included a special election in Sliema, whose 43 per cent turnout helped bring the average down.

The general consensus is that a Labour victory is a foregone conclusion for these elections, despite the Prime Minister saying he will be happy even if the Party wins "by one vote."

Some PN insiders fear that key localities like Mosta, and even the stronghold of Nadur may be up for grabs by Labour.

Siggiewi is seen as being touch and go for both parties. With the former PN mayor Robert Musumeci, now campaigning for Joseph Muscat and the fact that the locality hosts a significant hunting population may swing the result towards Labour.

The initially results are expected to be known within the first hour or two once enough samples have been taken from all the ballot boxed.

The whole process is expected to take 28 hours non-stop, so all official results should be in by Sunday morning.

Keep yourself updated minute-by-minute by logging onto www.independent.com.mt