The counting process is a long and arduous one and the Naxxar Hall will still be counting this morning, in an effort to resolve the nightmare which is our transferable vote system.

So far we have seen the election of one candidate Simon Busuttil who raced to the top of the leader board and was confirmed as being elected in the early hours of Monday morning. It is no real surprise, Dr Busuttil has a good track record in Europe and party propaganda aside, is a good MEP and representative for Malta.

What was equally no surprise was that David Casa inherited many of Dr Busuttil’s votes once he reached quota. Mr Casa has a season of European politics under his belt and he therefore knows the ropes. In addition, when one thinks that Mr Casa’s name was directly under that of Dr Busuttil, we can see the usual mechanics at work. Not only did Mr Casa get a decent amount of first count votes, but people might have automatically given him the “number 2” as it was the next name on the list. He was just edging over Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas and then completely blew her away after the second count going from less than a thousand vote advantage to over 10,000 votes advantage. What will now be interesting is where David Casa’s votes will go if he reaches quota.

Before turning to the PL, there were two other non-surprises – those being Norman Lowell and Alternattiva Demokratika. The Greens tried to mount a positive and transparent campaign, but it was obvious from the start that they were not going to do that well. Considering their performance in the last round of EP elections, this one can be considered abysmal with only 2.3 per cent of the electorate giving them their trust.

Although not spoken about in the mainstream in the build up to the elections, many people feared that Norman Lowell would increase his first count showing, and he did – quite impressively considering – with 3,645. As predicted, Azzjoni Nazzjonali also failed to impress with their three candidates garnering a paltry 1,500-odd first count votes.

The PL’s showing so far also does not raise many eyebrows – with Joe Cuschieri being the only real surprise. Many expected Louis Grech, an acknowledged technocrat and proved MEP to get more first count votes than he did – the number of PL candidates probably went against him, but with 27,000 or so votes, he was clearly and as expected, the leading candidate from that party.

Prof. Scicluna’s apparent securing of a seat was also widely expected. Again, a technocrat, he should find himself at home in the corridors of Brussels. The only real surprise is that Joseph Cuschieri is putting up stiff resistance in fending off Marlene Mizzi. At one point yesterday, he had a 2,000-odd vote advantage over the former Sea Malta Chairman.

Another that did not surprise was Sharon Ellul Bonici, who with 6,051 first count votes showed that there are still a fair number of PL supporters who are Euro sceptic. The only real surprise left in the bag is to see whether the seats will go to a three-three format or a four-two. With the Maltese electoral system being what it is, one would be wise to stave off betting, it’s still anyone’s call. We should know by today.