The government expressed disappointment today with the court decision granting two extra seats to the Nationalist Party, but it will see that the court ruling will be implemented in the shortest time possible.

It was ironically the Justice Minister, Owen Bonnici, who was tasked by the government to give a first official reaction following the Constitutional Court’s decision this morning, with the press conference held at the Justice Ministry. He was accompanied by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis.

Dr Bonnici said the government presented sound legal arguments against the Nationalist Party’s case, but the government must now respect the decision taken by the courts.

We will see that what the courts decided today will be implemented shortly, he said.

The court ruling, however, does not diminish Labour’s victory in the past election, and we will continue to work to carry out the government’s programme with which the Labour Party won with 36,000 votes, he said.

Dr Zammit Lewis said the government will continue to work harder than ever to see that the proposals it made before the election are implemented.

Dr Zammit Lewis said he cannot understand how a 13,000 majority leads to a five-seat majority in Parliament, while a 36,000 vote majority - which is nearly three times as large - amounts to a parliamentary majority of just seven seats.

He said the PN made a big deal about the government's appeal to the original judgment, saying that it was just a way to procrastinate the issue. But today's ruling confirmed that Labour was correct in taking up the legal matter further, as today's judgment changed important parts of the original sentence given.

The government, he said, is today stronger than it was before. The government is not focused on its parliamentary majority or court judgments, but on how to make things better for the people.