Results of a latest survey shows the Labour Party leading the Nationalist Party by 8.8 points, which translates into an advantage of 24,145 votes on a projected turnout of 77.5%.

The results from MaltaToday's April survey put the PL's support at 51.6% against the PN's 42.8%, whereas Momentum scored 2.2% and ADPD 1.5%.

Compared to the last survey held in February, the PL has gained 3.4 points and the PN has lost 1.1 points. In the same time frame the percentage of non-voters has dropped by two points. As a result, the gap between the two major parties has more than doubled from an 11,613-vote advantage for the PL in February to 24,145 votes now, the newspaper says.

Labour's gains can be attributed to a remarkable drop in the percentage of Labour voters in the past general election who would not vote if an election is held now. The results show that from 21.1% in February the PL's non-voters have dropped to just 11% now. In contrast, the survey shows that the percentage of non-voters among PN voters in the last election increased from 13.5% in February to 19% now.

This suggests that Robert Abela's strategy of appealing to the party's hardcore in the past months has worked, the newspaper says.

The result also suggests that at a time of international crisis voters have once again rallied behind the incumbent government as was the case during the pandemic.

The survey also shows Labour scoring an absolute majority for the first time since the European Parliament election in June last year.

The share of third parties has collectively decreased by two points from 7.9% in February to 5.6% now. The third-party vote is fragmented between Momentum (2.2%), ADPD (1.5%) and other small parties (1.9%).