The Nationalist Party in government continued its string of disappointing results in local elections as it lost majorities in Gzira, Mosta and Xaghra to a highly psyched up Labour Party, which is looking at the general election with more conviction of returning to power.

It was the fourth straight win at local council level for Labour, which has won all the elections since 2004. Labour has also won the European Parliament election, held in 2004.

And it would have been a worse result had the PN not managed to clinch to the majority in Safi – by a mere two votes – and win an extra seat in Floriana. One of the two independent candidates in Floriana – Publio Agius – had his seat snatched by PN candidate Franco Davies. It was also a close call in Munxar as the PN retained the majority in this council by just two votes, eliminating Alternattiva Demokratika’s candidate Michael Angelo Bajada from the race.

There were hours of uncertainty at the counting hall at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, as independent candidate Nigel Holland and Labour Party candidate Vincent Borg had the same number of votes at the sixth count in the Floriana locality. Mr Holland was finally awarded the seat as he obtained the largest number of first count votes. As a result, the Floriana council will be led by two councillors each for the two main political parties and Mr Holland as an independent councillor.

The councillor who will assume the role of mayor is still unknown because the recently-introduced amendments to the Local Councils’ Act stipulate that the person with the largest number of votes from the party which holds a majority is automatically elected mayor.

Overall, the MLP increased its percentage of votes by more than three per cent when compared to the results of the 2004 round of local elections in the same localities. On the contrary, the PN’s share dropped by 2.58 per cent. Similarly, the share of votes for independent candidates dropped by 0.8 per cent while Alternattiva Demokratika increased its share by 0.43 per cent.

In terms of the number of votes, the MLP received a total of 35,795 preferences which translates into an overall percentage share of 53.2 per cent. The PN received 29,533 votes or 43.89 per cent, while AD got 1,444 votes or 2.15 per cent. Independent candidates received 688 votes or 0.76 per cent.

The Nationalist Party lost a total of five councillors to the Labour Party in three Gozitan councils and two in Malta. In fact, the MLP snatched an extra seat in Zebbug, San Lawrenz and Xaghra in Gozo, as well as in Gzira, which has changed hands again, and Mosta, which is traditionally a PN stronghold. The MLP elected a total of 73 councillors and will have control over 11 of the 22 localities where elections were held yesterday.

On the other hand, although the PN lost five seats, in real terms the party only lost four because it gained an extra seat in Floriana. The PN elected a total of 64 councillors. In 2004, both parties elected 68 councillors each.

Political analysts are claiming that comparing this year’s results with those of 2004 gives a distorted picture because that year also saw the very first election for Malta’s representatives on the European Parliament, which led to a higher turnout for the local elections. The turnout for yesterday’s election was 68 per cent, which is a decrease of 14 per cent from the 82 per cent turnout in the 2004 elections.

In his initial reactions to the MLP’s success, PN secretary general Joe Saliba said the turnout always affects the PN drastically. He said that while these results are not those of a general election, the PN still has to take heed of the abysmal results. He said that the results, although maybe not that drastic, were expected, and that the PN was still looking towards a victory at the forthcoming general election.

Mr Saliba said the party was concerned about the worrying swing in favour of MLP in the island of Gozo. He said the party will have to look into this matter to evaluate exactly what led to this.

On his part, a jubilant MLP secretary general, Jason Micallef, said this was the party’s fourth running victory which he said clearly showed that there is a thirst for change on a local level and also on a national level.

AD Chairman Harry Vassallo told The Malta Independent that his party was getting major results wherever it is placing most of its effort. He said the results of the Munxar election were the most rewarding and disappointing at the same time since AD did not manage to elect candidate for just a couple of votes. “We were extremely unfortunate in Munxar,” he said.

He said it was significant that AD was gaining in every local election. “We are making slow and steady gains. Even in Swieqi, where 900 people did not turn up to vote, we still got a very respectful result,” he said.

There were moments of elation at the counting hall with large groups of Labour revellers banging on the perspex - and breaking a few sheets in the process – while chanting the typical Viva l-Labour at the top of their voices.

Labour’s much-mentioned issue of the handyman employed by the PN-led Mosta council who was being paid an average of Lm1,000 a month, featured constantly during the counting process of the Mosta election. At one point, when a perspex sheet was shattered, the Labour supporters sarcastically called out for the Mosta handyman to repair it.

During the counting process, there was a time when the Labour supporters thought that they had won the majority in the Floriana council. The Labourites reacted to this news by saying that the MLP had taken charge of the lions in both Floriana and Mosta. However, as time passed, they quickly realised that the lion in Floriana had turned independent.

Counting agents told The Malta Independent that a good percentage of the invalid votes had messages from hunters scribbled over them. One message read: “No hunting, no vote” written over the PN section of the voting document.

The youngest mayor to be elected yesterday was 25-year-old Chris Bonett who is now mayor of Gzira. Mr Bonett received 619 first count votes. Former Gzira mayor Albert Rizzo, an auctioneer, who was strongly criticised by the MLP media during the electoral campaign, still managed to get a staggering 979 first count votes. However, he was not re-elected mayor because his party did not hold the majority.

In all, there will be eight new mayors – seven have already been elected in Gzira, Marsaxlokk, Paola, Mosta, Kercem, Swieqi and Xaghra, while the mayor of Floriana is still to be chosen from among the elected councillors.

The counting process proceeded relatively smoothly on Saturday to Sunday night with practically no hitches reported.