Robert Abela led the Labour Party to a bigger electoral win than the one achieved by Joseph Muscat four years ago, but the Prime Minister obtained fewer total votes than his predecessor.

Official results issued by the Electoral Commission show that Abela obtained 11,694 personal votes on the second district, with 9,996 on the fifth.

These are the same districts that had been contested by Muscat in 2017. That time, Muscat had won 27,560 votes.

In all, Abela obtained a total of 21,690, of 5,870 fewer than Muscat.

The lower turnout contributed to this, as the number of votes cast in these districts – and all the rest – were around seven per cent fewer.

The overall results show that the Labour Party has won the election with a difference of 39,474 votes, as against the 35,000 obtained four years ago.