On a cold and rainy day which saw the turnout decrease by no less than 14 per cent on the same round of local council elections three years ago, Labour gained an even greater overall majority in the localities where the polls took place.

One has to say, however, that in 2004, the corresponding local council election took place on the same day as the European Parliament election. Even so, however, Labour had registered a 50.4 per cent support which this time has been widened to between 53 and 54 per cent due to both decreased turnout and also a swing to Labour in key districts.

The hard work done over the past months, and the corresponding weakness exhibited by signal PN-led councils has led Labour to win over some keenly-contested localities.

Mosta, of course, was the plum target both because of its importance and its sheer size as well as because of the way its PN majority was going about things as exemplified by the Labour onslaught on the part-time, well-remunerated handyman’s contract which earned him Lm24,000 in two years.

Two other signal localities fell into Labour’s lap: Gzira and Xaghra.

Gzira had been under Labour till some years ago but moved back into the PN fold when maverick Albert Rizzo moved back into the fold but coexistence proved difficult for Mr Rizzo and some of his PN colleagues and the result showed in lack of initiatives and ultimately of support.

Xaghra was rather a dark horse where Labour did not make any targeted attack as it did in other localities but the Labour minority worked silently and increased its support at grass-roots level.

Other localities could also swing at a later stage in the counting process, especially Floriana and Munxar where the Nationalist Party lost its majority under the onslaught of environmentalists and Labour aghast at the way a cliff-top path had been concreted over. In Floriana Labour increased by eight per cent but the majority in the council could depend upon the votes for independent candidates.

Alternattiva Demokratika made some signal gains in the overall vote and also in certain localities. It may gain a seat at Munxar and also at Swieqi where Labour seems about to gain another seat. In Gzira, AD gained five per cent and further deepened the PN defeat.

The other big localities such as Paola and Hamrun will be declared later on during the night but there seems to be no doubt they will remain steadfastly in the Labour fold. Reports reached us that Labour has actually increased its share in Hamrun as well as in Paola where Labour seems probable to keep the fifth seat on the council. Qormi too is solidly in the Labour fold in what until a few years ago was a PN-led locality.

The only two localities where Labour lost, slightly, its vote share were Safi where the decrease was minimal, and Santa Lucija where despite Dr Sant’s assignment of a high mark on completing its work, people seemed to have other ideas.

On the PN side, the main reaction seemed to be calm acceptance that people tend to vote against the government in local council elections but that a general election will be a very different thing altogether.

But away from the cameras and set-piece reactions, there were very glum faces as the party faced its fourth defeat in a row on the eve of what is

certain to be a keen general election.