The Malta Labour Party “did well” in the local council elections held on 8 March, so much so that it obtained an absolute majority of votes and elected five more councillors than the Nationalist Party.

This was the interpretation given yesterday by MLP deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, Charles Mangion, following the results of the elections in 23 localities. The elections were held on the same day as the general election, which the MLP lost to the PN.

The MLP obtained 52 per cent of the votes as against the PN’s 46 per cent. An official statement by the MLP says that the party elected 74 councillors against the PN’s 69, Dr Mangion said (although, according to the Department of Information website, the number is one less for the MLP and one more for the PN).

From the results obtained, it is clear that the holding of a general election on the same day as local council elections had an impact on the overall result. This pushed many more people to vote than usually happens in local council elections.

MLP deputy leader for party affairs Michael Falzon specifically referred to the elections in Santa Venera, Mqabba and Mellieha, where the MLP lost the majority and where therefore the council is led by a Nationalist mayor.

Dr Falzon said it was expected that the MLP loses its majority in Santa Venera. In Mqabba, although the number of voters increased substantially, the difference between the two parties at the first count was of 30 votes only.

In Mellieha, the MLP obtained 150 more first count votes than the PN, but in subsequent counts lost to the PN by 16 votes. The result showed that the Mellieha residents expressed their confidence in MLP candidates, more so when considering that in the general election the MLP did not obtain a majority in Mellieha, Dr Falzon said.

Dr Mangion said this result places bigger responsibility on Labour councillors to continue to be close to Maltese families. He appealed to Labour councillors make use of the services of Labour candidates who were not elected.

Both Dr Mangion and Dr Falzon thanks all candidates – even those from other parties – who contested the local council elections. They said that work in a local council is on a voluntary basis.