Labour leader Dr Alfred Sant told the press that his party scored a convincing victory, not only securing an absolute majority of the total vote, but also increasing its elected councillors in numerous localities. For his part, Prime Minister and PN leader Dr Lawrence Gonzi conceded defeat, but claimed that the result was not altogether negative.
At the final count, the vote share for the Labour Party stood at about 50 per cent, up two per cent from 2001. The PN’s was just over 45 per cent, down three per cent, while AD and other Independents came in at around four per cent.
The PN lost councillors in Paola, Santa Lucija, Swieqi, Qormi and Attard but gained one in Gzira. The Xaghra result in particular showed a good increase for the PN which held the third seat despite the recent negative press concerning the landfill of Tal-Qortin. The vote across traditional Labour localities was much more proficient in favour of the Malta Labour Party. In places such as Birzebbugia and Marsaxlokk, the PN vote remained the same as the 2001 local elections.
Significant gains were made by the Labour Party in Qormi with a six per cent swing, upping its total of councillors to seven and increasing its votes by over 1,100. Mosta remained slightly in favour of the PN with both sides increasing their vote share by around a 1,000 votes.
Alternattiva Demokratika made significant gains in two of the three districts it contested. AD’s candidate in Swieqi polled just over 400 votes, whereas in Attard the Green Party registered just under 600 votes. This amounts to around 10 per cent of the vote in these localities.
The Labour Party increased its percentage share of the vote in almost all localities and was substantial in places such as Qormi (+6 per cent) Santa Lucija (+3.61 per cent), Birzebbugia (+6.52 per cent) and Siggiewi (+3.66 per cent). On the other hand, the PN suffered a heavy loss in Swieqi (-6.86 per cent), Attard (-8.5 per cent) and Marsaxlokk (-4.59 per cent) although an Independent candidate also took Labour votes (-8.59 per cent) here.
As in the European Parliament elections, it was apparent that the Labour Party was able to get out the vote in its localities while the PN were at lower than usual levels especially in Swieqi and Attard. In Gozo, the PN retained its strong showing with Qala, Zebbug, Xaghra, San Lawrenz, Munxar and Kercem all showing the same level of support received in the previous round of elections and even increasing its vote share in these localities, especially in Xaghra.
However this was more than offset by the loss in Qormi and other Labour dominated councils.
The South must be given greater attention and the Nationalist Party must start working harder to get its vote.
This was the gist of the answer Dr Lawrence Gonzi gave to a question put by The Malta Independent on Sunday when asked to comment on the Labour Party’s victory in the local council elections.
Dr Gonzi said that although the result was a clear defeat for the PN, all was not doom and gloom. He cited the strong performance by the Nationalist Party in Gozo, especially the result in Xaghra and said that Gzira and Safi had also shown positive results for the PN.
The PN leader maintained that Alternattiva Demokratika had again been a factor in these elections as it achieved good results in Swieqi and Attard where they garnered over 10 per cent of the vote.
Dr Gonzi said that these votes indicated that we had a mature electorate who had no misgivings in showing their discontent with either party. He added that although Labour won the elections, it had not improved significantly on its vote share since the 2003 General Election.
Dr Gonzi also mentioned that the PN was conducting an internal exercise on the results and this reflected the trend in the popularity of the government.
The PN leader also stressed that the government had worked tirelessly to strengthen democracy in the country and that these local council elections were the fruit of the party’s policies.
Asked by The Malta Independent on Sunday on the Qormi result where the PN lost a councillor, Dr Gonzi said that this was due to better mobilisation of Labour voters with turnout increasing from 73 to 82 per cent and a six per cent swing in favour of the MLP.