The Labour Party has won a record fourth electoral win in a row, with an official margin of 21,721 votes between the two parties.
There was disagreement on the margin of Labour's victory during the course of the day.
The first indications, according to Nationalist Party general secretary Charles Bonello, were that the PL has won by an 18,000-19,000 majority. The Labour Party later a victory of 20,600 votes, which is almost half of the 39,000 margin it obtained in 2022. In the end, the two parties came to the same conclusion of a difference of 20,600.
The Nationalist Party have won two seats on the fourth and fifth districts, unlike in 2022 when it had gained only one in each of them. Labour retained the Gozo district by a few votes.
The Nationalist Party will also have two additional seats due to the proportionality system - and they will be Janice Abela Chetcuti and Frank Anthony Tabone.
The Labour Party has elected 36 candidates against the PN's 29, but the PN will have two additional seats through the proportionality mechanism, for a total of 36-31. Another 12 women candidates will be elected through the gender mechanism process.
The sorting of votes took place at the Naxxar counting hall and although no official results are as yet known, the Labour Party delegates started banging on the perspex in what has become a traditional way of unofficially announcing victory just after 11am, two hours after the sorting process started.
Chants of "Viva l-Labour" resounded in the counting hall as delegates let off steam by celebrating their win.
Candidates were seen being carried shoulder high.
Just after 1pm, Prime Minister Robert Abela turned up at the counting hall, and was greeted with great celebration by Labour agents and candidates.
PN leader Alex Borg also visited the counting hall, thanking party agents and candidates for their work.
Earlier
There were moments of tension less than 45 minutes into the sorting of votes at the Naxxar counting hall as a dispute arose over one singular vote in the third district.
Party agents were seen arguing and raising their voice, with others trying to calm the situation. It is still unclear what led to the issue but police were also seen intervening to control the people involved.
Candidates present at the countil hall were also seen trying to pacify their agents.
The Counting Hall in Naxxar steadily filled up before 9am, the time established by the Electoral Commission for the sorting of votes. Election officials, party agents, candidates, and media crews are following the proceedings after all 852 ballot boxes from across Malta and Gozo arrived and the sorting of the votes started.
Attention nhas turned to the counting process, following a general election turnout of 87.42% - up by 1.82 percentage points from the previous election.
The political parties, using their agents, will have a strong indication of the results soon after the sorting of the votes starts. The wider the margin, the earlier these unofficial results will be known.
The official results will only be made known later tonight, but within a few hours the outcome of the election is expected to be known.
Once the voting time expired at 10am on Saturday, the ballot boxes were transported to the hall under security escort after polling stations closed on Saturday evening, with preparations now under way for the verification and counting of votes that will determine the composition of the next Parliament.
Outside the hall, the Armed Forces of Malta is patrolling the area and controlling entrance.