The dust has now settled on a short but sharp electoral campaign.
The Labour Party emerged with a renewed mandate after winning by 21,721 votes over the Nationalist Party - a majority that has been slashed by almost half compared to 2022.
That was reflected across every electoral district - but more so in some districts than others. The PL lost support in every district, while the PN gained support in every district as well - but the vote swing varied across the country.
The Malta Independent on Sunday takes a look at the 13 different pictures drawn in each of Malta's electoral districts.
District 1
PL: 55.23%, PN: 41.96%, others: 2.82%
For a long time the 1st district was one of Malta's bellwether districts, but recently it has given the PL a comfortable majority.
That didn't necessarily change this year, but it was the district where the PL lost the most in terms of vote share (4.8%) compared to 2022. The PN, meanwhile, gained 4.4% of the vote - the second highest district-level gains this year.
A part of this will have been down to the re-districting that happened prior to the election: a part of Birkirkara - a traditionally Nationalist-leaning locality - worth 4,177 votes was added within its borders, and the traditionally Labour-leaning Pieta was shifted elsewhere.
There were seats and votes up for grabs in this district: PL MP Aaron Farrugia and PN veteran Mario de Marco were both not re-contesting for their seat, and the departure of Jose Herrera from politics meant that there was another 2,000 or so votes which needed an owner.
Keith Azzopardi Tanti remained the most popular candidate. He improved his vote count from 3,774 in 2022 to 5,068 this time around. Deo Debattista meanwhile retained his seat but lost 844 votes compared to last election and was the PL's third most popular candidate rather than second.
The second most popular candidate was new man Nigel Vella. In the midst of a field of quite prominent new candidates such as unionist Josef Bugeja, Valletta mayor Olaf McKay, and Animal Welfare Commissioner Fleur Abela, and two more MPs Cressida Galea and Davina Sammut Hili, Vella emerged as the comfortable winner, with 1,712 votes.
On the PN's side meanwhile, Mario de Marco's 2,253 voters seemed to shift en-masse to Darren Carabott, who more than doubled his vote tally from 2,203 in 2022 to 4,923. Paula Mifsud Bonnici won the PN's second seat despite not really increasing on her tally of votes from last election.
District 2
PL: 67.15%, PN: 29.72%, others: 3.14%
There were no surprises in the 2nd district, which is the PL's biggest fortress in voting terms in the country.
Like in all districts, there was a swing in votes: the PN gained 3.4% while the PL lost 4.0% - but the PN still did not manage to exceed 30% in its vote share on the district. The seat distribution also remained the same: four for the PL and one for the PN.
The PL ballot sheet was headed by Prime Minister Robert Abela, who polled in with 11,839 votes - 145 votes more than in 2022. Clyde Caruana followed suit like in 2022, and Alison Zerafa Civelli was elected third, again like in 2022.
Back in 2022, the fourth and final PL seat was taken by veteran Chris Agius, but he has now retired from politics. Glenn Bedingfield, who last time had to rely on a casual election to make it to Parliament, was this time elected immediately.
On the PN's side of the ballot, there was no surprise whatsoever as Stephen Spiteri easily remained the party's most popular candidate. He received 5,470 votes - 734 votes more than he got four years ago. Bernice Bonello improved on her performance since 2022 as well, and will be a shoe-in to be elected via the gender corrective mechanism again.
District 3
PL: 65.55%, PN: 30.66%, others: 3.80%
The PL remained strong in this district, even if it lost 3.5% of its vote share and saw the PN gain 2.9%, and it successfully retained a seat majority of four to one.
Chris Fearne was by far the most popular candidate in 2022 as he scooped up 5,870 votes, but his stock has dropped since then after he spent two years out of Cabinet as he faced charges relating to the hospitals deal.
This said, he was still the most popular candidate this year, albeit with 2,529 fewer votes. Owen Bonnici polled in 2nd with 2,721 votes, closely followed by Chris Bonett with 2,696 votes. Veteran Carmelo Abela was touted as being at a disadvantage as he spent the last legislature on the backbenches, but he actually gained 369 votes compared to 2022 and was elected as the PL's 4th seat.
The biggest loser in all this is Andy Ellul. The former PL Whip and Parliamentary Secretary received almost 800 votes fewer than Abela and consequently lost his seat. He will have to rely on a casual election to return to Parliament.
On the PN's side meanwhile, Stephen Spiteri remained the most popular candidate and he increased his vote tally by 908 votes. Janice Abela Chetcuti received a near identical amount of votes as in 2022, and she was elected via the Constitutional Proportionality mechanism.
District 4
PL: 64.39%, PN: 32.53%, others: 3.09%
This district was one of two which the PN was targeting in order to gain a seat over the PL - a target which it reached by just over 300 final count votes.
The last time the PN elected two MPs in this district was in the 2008 election, but a 3% increase in their support and a 3.2% decrease in support to the PL meant that the party could make it happen again this year.
Like in 2022, Chris Fearne was the most popular candidate in this district - but this time with just over 3,000 votes fewer to his name. Byron Camilleri came in 2nd place with 3,495 votes, not far off Fearne's tally of 3,750 votes. Jonathan Attard was next with 3,057 votes.
Sitting MPs Andy Ellul and Ray Abela both had disappointing performances, although this isn't their home district - but fellow sitting MPs Katya de Giovanni and Amanda Spiteri Grech will be especially disappointed as they lost votes, and most likely their seat, compared to 2022.
On the PN's side, Mark Anthony Sammut put in a very strong showing. He was the only candidate from both sides to achieve the district quota on the first counts (by 15 votes), as he gained almost 2,000 votes on his 2022 result.
Former PN Secretary General Michael Piccinino put in a strong performance with 1,582 votes. Inheritance from the PN's other candidates meant that he had enough to be elected into Parliament, gaining a seat for his party.
District 5
PL: 60.94%, PN: 35.47%, others: 3.59%
The 5th district is the second one where the PN was targeting to turn a seat over in their favour, and given that the margin was so thin in 2022 it was perhaps not much of a surprise that this target was also reached.
The PN gained 3.7% of the vote share here, while the PL lost 4.3% - its highest loss in these always red southern districts.
Four years ago this district saw that two party leaders go directly head to head with each other, but this time it was just Abela on the ballot sheet. He picked up up most of the votes, as expected, with 9,843 to his name. That is, mind you, 153 votes less than in 2022.
Omar Farrugia, who has now became the youngest minister in the country's history at the age of 31, came next with an impressive 2,028 first count votes - no mean feat when you are sharing the ballot sheet with the party leader. Miriam Dalli picked up the final PL seat by just 33 votes over Owen Bonnici.
The real surprise however came on the PN's side of the ballot sheet. Conrad Borg Manche was more known as the PL's mayor of Gzira, before he resigned from the party and turned into an independent politician. He was announced as a PN candidate the day nominations closed and placed on his home district - the 10th - and the 5th district.
With such a short campaign and in an area he had never campaigned in, few will have expected Borg Manche to poll in at 2,453 votes - the PN's second most popular candidate and ahead of MP Stanley Zammit (by 46 votes).
Borg Manche won the PN's second seat, with veteran Toni Bezzina taking the PN's first seat after achieving 2,767 votes. Zammit will have to rely on a casual election to make it back to Parliament.
District 6
PL: 56.60%, PN: 40.27%, others: 3.13%
The PN continued its gains in PL heartlands here, as it registered a 3% increase in its vote share, while the PL lost 4% compared to the 2022 election. It is the first time since the 2008 election that the PN has topped 40% in this district, a positive sign for the party.
The internal battle within the PL had the makings of an interesting one here: Both Silvio Schembri and Roderick Galdes were elected on the first count in 2022, with Schembri having 252 mote votes. This time around though, Galdes was blocked from contesting by the PL's Executive.
Schembri lost 1,236 votes and Ian Borg was suddenly the most popular candidate in the district with 4,588 votes - 2,538 more than in 2022. Schembri was elected second, and he was followed by Rosianne Cutajar, who showed that the scandals that involved her during the last legislature were of no bearing whatsoever to her popularity.
Cutajar had to rely on a casual election in 2022, but this time was elected on her own steam with 2,692 first count votes to her name.
On the PN's side meanwhile, Jerome Caruana Cilia remained incredibly popular: he won 5,119 votes - 457 votes more than in 2022 - and was therefore the best performing candidate in the district.
The PN had Ryan Callus who was not seeking re-election in this election, but it was essentially a trade of one Siggiewi native for another: the locality's mayor Julian Borg was elected to the PN's second seat. He amassed an impressive 2,229 second count votes, comfortably ahead of next challenger, academic George Vital Zammit.
District 7
PL: 53.26%, PN: 43.52%, others: 3.22%
This year was the PL's worst showing in this district since 2008, as the party lost 2.3% of its vote share, with the PN gaining 2.1% in the overall vote count.
Deputy leader Ian Borg was comfortably the best performer. This is his home district, as it includes Dingli, and he won 5,520 votes - 495 more than in 2022.
Next, perhaps surprisingly, came Zebbug-based doctor Malcolm Paul Agius Galea. He was elected via a casual election four years ago, but polled in second for the PL this time with 2,378 votes at the first count. Julia Farrugia filled in the PL's 3rd seat with 1,757 votes, an improvement of 399.
These improvements came at the expense of Silvio Schembri. His vote tally dropped from 2,489 in 2022 to 1,258 this year - a drop of practically half - which meant that he was not even elected from this district.
Naomi Cachia will have to rely on a casual election or the gender quota in order to be re-elected to Parliament.
For the PN meanwhile, the strongest candidate was by far former leader Adrian Delia, with 4,270 votes - almost double the next best PN candidate, and over double the 2,119 votes he accrued in 2022.
Ian Mario Vassallo, better known as il-Hagi, was the next best PN candidate with 2,183 votes over Rebekah Borg's 1,831 votes. However vote inheritance meant that it was Borg who was elected, leaving Vassallo - together with fellow former MP Charles Azzopardi - having to rely on casual elections for re-election.
District 8
PL: 42.12%, PN: 53.89%, others: 3.99%
After a blip in 2013 when the PL won three seats to the PN's two, the 8th district - which is largely centred on Birkirkara - has remained quite comfortably in the hands of the PN. This time was no different, as the PN gained 1.7% and the PL lost 2.3% compared to last election.
There were question marks as to how re-districting might affect the outcome of the district: part of Birkirkara was hived off to the 1st district, but it was replaced with part of the usually equally Nationalist-leaning Naxxar, which ultimately had no impact on the final outcome of the vote share.
Adrian Delia was easily the most popular candidate in the district with 6,718 votes. That is the highest tally registered by a candidate who is not a party leader this election, and it is almost triple the 2,513 votes that he achieved in 2022.
Beppe Fenech Adami and Justin Schembri were the other MPs elected for the PN, but both saw their tally of first count votes dwindle compared to four years ago owing to the increase in support for Delia.
Julie Zahra lost 234 votes as well compared to 2022, but she will be elected into Parliament via the gender corrective mechanism.
On the red side of the ballot, Clyde Caruana remained the preferred candidate as he amassed 4,948 votes and was elected on the first count. The destination of the PL's final seat was immediately set to be an interesting battle: its previous tenant Edward Zammit Lewis as not contest, and neither were the PL's two next best candidates in the last election, Roderick Galdes and Clayton Bartolo.
In the end the PL's international secretary John Grech eclipsed those around him with 1,803 first count votes. Ramona Attard was the closest challenger with a distant 920 votes, followed by the granddaughter of PL stalwart Joe Debono Grech and Birkirkara minority leader Yana Borg Debono Grech.
Neither of the challengers was elected, but both are sure to make it to Parliament at least via the gender corrective mechanism.
District 9
PL: 39.50%, PN: 56.07%, others: 4.44%
The 9th district was the one which saw the least movement compared to 2022. The PN only increased its support here by 0.1%, while the PL only lost 1.1% of its vote share.
Some of that might be down to re-districting: the usually PL-leaning Pieta was added to this locality for the first time, but some may also be down to the presence of Momentum chairperson Arnold Cassola, who tallied an impressive 722 votes.
The PN's top candidate was, once again, lawyer Joe Giglio, but he lost 1,587 when compared to his strong showing when he contested the first time in 2022.
Second for the PN was its Deputy Leader Alex Perici Calascione. It isn't the first time that he has contested an election, but it's the first time that he was elected, as he won a tidy 1,941 first count votes. His vote tally is similar to that won by the late Robert Arrigo (2,033) who passed away in office during the last legislature.
Next in line for a seat was young MP Eve Borg Bonello. She was elected last term at just 18 years old via the gender quota - four years on, and she remains the youngest MP in Parliament, but this time an MP who was elected under her own steam. She won 1,393 first count votes - three and a half times the amount of votes she had in 2022 in this district.
There were no surprises on the other side of the ballot sheet: Clifton Grima - who is from Msida - remained the most popular candidate with 3,699 votes, followed by Michael Falzon with 2,735 votes.
Former Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg and PL MEP candidate Clint Azzopardi Flores will need to rely on casual elections if they want to win a seat.
District 10
PL: 34.37%, PN: 60.85%, others: 4.77%
The PN's strongest fortress - built around Sliema and St Julian's - followed the trends of the areas around it. The PN gained 2.2% while the PL lost 2.7% - a solid result for the PN but not as pronounced as in more southern localities.
A part of that may be, again, due to the presence of Momentum's Arnold Cassola who won 795 first count votes which climbed to over 1,000 by the time he was knocked out of the running. It is Cassola's best ever showing in a general election.
Joe Giglio was the PN's strongest candidate again with 2,611 votes - but like in the 9th district he lost a hefty chunk of his voter base when compared to 2022, dropping 2,147 votes.
He was closely followed by surprise package Conrad Borg Manche, as he polled 2,411 votes. Despite this being his home district, Borg Manche actually won 42 votes more in the 5th district. Mark Anthony Sammut followed with 2,055 votes.
This means that MPs such as Graham Bencini, Albert Buttigieg, and Graziella Attard Previ will need a casual election to maintain their seats. Attard Previ is guaranteed a seat via the gender corrective mechanism as well.
The PL's story is almost identical to the 9th district, except this time it is Michael Falzon ahead with 2,307 votes, followed by Clifton Grima with 1,919. Both dropped votes compared to 2022 - Falzon dropped 355 votes and Grima dropped 697 votes - but that may be down to the PL's more crowded ballot sheet of 15 candidates compared to 8 candidates in 2022.
Jo Etienne Abela was the third most popular PL candidate with 1,361 votes, and Rebecca Buttigieg came a distant fourth with 869 votes. No other PL candidate got more than 263 votes.
District 11
PL: 40.23%, PN: 55.44%, others: 4.34%
From the longest ballot sheet to the shortest ballot sheet, the 11th district - which is made up of just Mosta and Attard - featured just six PN candidates and five PL candidates together with one each from the smaller parties.
The PN solidified its hold on this district, increasing its vote share by 2.1% while seeing the PL lost 1.8% of its share.
It was a hotly contested election for the PN seats, with five candidates getting over 1,900 first count votes. In the end it was Ivan Bartolo who was the most popular with 3,277 votes - even more popular than former leader Bernard Grech, who won 3,008 votes.
The last seat was a straight fight between Rebekah Borg who had 2,226 first count votes, Joseph Grech who had 2,047 first count votes, and Dione Borg, who had 1,972 votes. In the end it was Rebekah Borg who won the seat.
For the PL Miriam Dalli was the star candidate. She achieved 3,827 votes - exactly as much as the district quota - to become the first PL candidate to ever be elected on the first count in this district.
Anthony Agius Decelis, who agonisingly missed out on a seat in Parliament in 2022 first by 52 inherited votes in the main election and then by 391 votes in the casual election, made his return to Parliament with a strong haul of 2,330 votes. That is almost 1,000 more votes than incumbent MP Alex Muscat achieved.
Romilda Zarb meanwhile had a disappointing showing, as she ranked as the weakest of the PL's five candidates with 742 votes. Her return to Parliament is only possible if three women ahead of her in the gender quota ranking are elected via casual elections.
District 12
PL: 42.92%, PN: 52.62%, others: 4.45%
The 12th district has historically leaned towards the PN, but recent history had the majority here being a toss-up.
Back in 2022, the PN achieved 49.49% of the vote against the PL's 46.82% - a difference of only 584 votes. This time, however, the difference was more pronounced. The PN upped its support by 3.1% while the PL lost 3.9%, making for a difference in votes of 2,030 votes.
The party was buoyed by its party leader Alex Borg featuring in this district. He secured 9,614 votes - 87.3% of the party's total - and vote inheritance then favoured incumbent MPs Ivan Castillo, from Mellieha, and Graziella Galea, from St Paul's Bay.
Academic and the PN's electoral manifesto author George Vital Zammit was a distant 4th for the PN.
The PL side of the ballot meanwhile had an element of re-shaping to it: only one of the party's four most popular candidates in 2022 was contesting as Clayton Bartolo, Michael Farrugia, and Evarist Bartolo all did not feature this year.
That one candidate was Jonathan Attard, and he capitalised by this time becoming the most popular PL candidate in the district with 2,885 votes. He was followed by Alicia Bugeja Said who contested this district for the first time, but is from Mgarr, which was added to here for this election.
The PL will have had hopes for former MPs Franco Mercieca and Deborah Schembri together with the young Carlos Zarb who returned to the ballot sheet - but they didn't make the cut. Expect a tight battle between the three of them for a seat through the casual elections though.
A spare thought also goes to ADPD leader Sandra Gauci. She is a local councillor in St Paul's Bay and achieved 513 first count votes, before being knocked out of the running with 950 votes in the 17th count.
If the country's gender corrective mechanism was fair, that would be enough for her to be elected to Parliament - but the mechanism only applies to candidates of the PL and PN, so Gauci will remain empty handed.
District 13
PL: 48.81%, PN: 49.32%, others: 1.87%
Gozo is Malta's most significant bellwether district. There hasn't been an election since 1998 where the winner of the election did not also win a seat majority in Gozo.
With the PN being led by Gozitan Alex Borg, who swept into the 2022 elections as a first-time candidate and became the most popular MP there, an upset was on the cards.
The PN came close before to defying the odds on that statistic. The party won more votes in 2013 - 240 more votes to be exact - but ultimately lost the battle in seats by just 9 inherited votes. The PL had since made Gozo a comfortably red district, achieving 53.54% of the vote to the PN's 43.94% - a difference of 2,530 votes.
2026 would prove to be a repeat of the pain of 2013 for the PN. A 5.4% increase in support - it's highest across all districts - coupled with the PL losing 4.7% of its vote meant that the PN won the plurality in the district by 144 votes.
Vote inheritance, however, proved to be its undoing. Alex Borg won an enormous 12,211 votes, but when his votes were redistributed 226 went to PL candidates - enough to turn the seat battle in favour of the PL.
In the end, Clint Camilleri, Anton Refalo and Jo Etienne Abela retained the three seats for the PL, while Borg and new candidate Beppe Galea took the PN's two seats.
Camilleri was easily the PL's most popular candidate with 6,020 votes, which is 438 votes than in 2022. Refalo came in next, but his vote tally dropped by 1,139 compared to 2022. It's the first time since 1992 that Refalo was not elected on the first count. Jo Etienne Abela won 3,171 votes - increasing his supporter base by 1,368 votes.
Abigail Camilleri, who was elected via the gender quota in 2022, will miss out on a parliamentary seat this time and has retired from politics.
On the PN's side, Beppe Galea pipped Frank Anthony Tabone at the line on vote inheritance to be elected. Tabone has made it to Parliament regardless though, owing to the constitutional proportionality mechanism.
There is a scenario where the PN can elect all five of its candidates in Gozo if Alex Borg vacates his seat in Gozo. Norma Camilleri is guaranteed a seat in Parliament via the gender quota. Should she decide not to contest the resulting casual election, it will mean that Luke Said - the PN's final candidate - will also be elected as he would be the only candidate left to contest.