Today is election day for Labour Party paid members, as 17,500 people go to one of 13 voting stations around the Maltese islands and cast their vote for who they want to be the next PL Leader. The winner will go on to become Prime Minister.

The two contenders are Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne and PL MP Robert Abela. Both have already cast their vote.

The Labour Party said that, by 2pm, 58.3% of the voters had cast their vote. There seems to be a low turnout in Gozo, sources told The Malta Independent.

Outgoing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced his resignation on 1 December, but he said he will make way once the Labour Party elects his successor.

Once the voting is over at 8pm tonight, all 13 ballot boxes will be transferred to the Labour Party headquarters, where the counting of votes will take place. All boxes need to arrive before the counting starts, meaning that this could take up to two hours given that one of the boxes will have to be brought from Gozo.

It is likely that the counting process will take us into the early hours of Sunday, when the official result will be made known.

The new leader will be addressing the party congress at 4pm on Sunday.