This year's local council elections may have seen a swing towards the Nationalist Party, but Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is nevertheless pleased with what, he pointed out, was the best result ever achieved by a party in government in local council elections.
At a press conference held at the Auberge de Castille, Dr Muscat repeatedly insisted that the result in this round of local council elections should be mainly compared with the result of the 2013 general election and that of last year's European Parliament election, rather than with the 2012 elections, in which the same local councils were up for election.
He noted that the party obtained nearly 54% of the vote overall in this year's local council elections, pointing out that this proportion was practically identical to that it achieved in the last two national elections.
Dr Muscat pointed out that when the PN was in government, it only managed to win local council elections in 2000, when it received 49% of the vote, and that the PN's best result in local elections was in 1998, when it achieved 53% of the vote.
This year's elections are the first local elections which Labour is contesting as the party in government; it did not contest local elections when it was in government between 1996 and 1998, although many people affiliated with it nevertheless contested as independent candidates.
The Prime Minister insisted that his party's target was to win the elections, even if just by one vote, but the public instead chose to give the party a clear and strong majority.
"This result establishes the Labour Party in government as the clear and natural choice for the majority of the Maltese people... it gives us the energy and optimism to move forward," he said.
Dr Muscat also welcomed the fact that Labour had won two new localities - Munxar and Floriana - while St Paul's Bay and Nadur remained too close to call.
The Prime Minister was dismissive of the Nationalist Party's satisfaction with a result which represented an improvement over the 2012 local elections, stating that the party was celebrating a loss.
"I understand, even according to what is being said in the media, that (PN leader) Simon Busuttil is afraid of losing his position, so he must even celebrate defeat. Well, if he's happy, then everyone's happy," Dr Muscat maintained.
Asked to comment on the fact that the Labour Party performed better in Gozo while the PN generally improved on its position in Malta, Dr Muscat insisted that the party's result in Gozo was not a surprise to it, as it reflected its achievements in the last general election and European Parliament election.
"I do not think that there has been a shift towards the Labour Party in Gozo... Gozo simply confirmed a shift that had taken place two years ago," he maintained.