Just over three quarters of Labour supporters believe Alfred Sant should remain leader, although more than 20 per cent want the party to change its stand on the EU, according to a post-election survey commissioned by Xarabank.
The survey was carried out among a sample of 600 respondents between April 23 and 27 - before Dr Sant announced he would resubmit his name for party leader.
There were interesting differences between the percentages of the population as a whole and of supporters of a particular party.
For example, just 24.5 per cent of the total population believe the MLP should not change its stand on the EU, while 56.9 per cent said it should do so and 18.5 per cent were undecided.
However, only 20.2 per cent of professed Labour supporters believe their party should change its stand, with 68.5 per cent disagreeing. The remainder, 11.3 per cent, are undecided.
On the other hand, a total of 90.2 per cent of Nationalists said that the MLP should change its position on the EU.
Among those who said they were floating voters, 41.3 per cent said the MLP should change its position on the EU, with 16.1 per cent saying it should not, and 42.6 per cent undecided.
Asked whether Dr Sant should remain at the helm of the MLP, 47.3 per cent of respondents said he should not, while 31 per cent said that he should stay on and 21.7 per cent were undecided.
Among the Labourites, 78.2 per cent said Dr Sant should remain leader of their party.
No fewer than 40.6 per cent of respondents did not state who they thought should be the future MLP leader.
The contender with the highest support was George Abela with 19.5 per cent, followed by Dr Sant (14.1 per cent), George Vella (5.8 per cent), Lino Spiteri (4.6 per cent) and John Attard Montalto (3.6 per cent).
When cross-tabulating these possible contenders with the respondents' political allegiance, it was found that the favourite among Labourites was Dr Sant (42.7 per cent), followed by "undecided" (18.5 per cent) and Dr Vella (11.3 per cent).
The favourite candidate among the Nationalist supporters was Dr Abela (30.4 per cent), with 41.1 per cent stating that they were still undecided.
While the majority of floating voters (57.4 per cent) said they were undecided, the first choice among this category was Dr Abela with 14.8 per cent, followed by Mr Spiteri (6.5 per cent) and Dr Sant (5.8 per cent).
The majority of respondents (54.7 per cent) said that Eddie Fenech Adami should continue leading the PN while 29 per cent said he should leave, and 16.3 per cent were undecided.
As many as 83.6 per cent of Nationalists want Dr Fenech Adami to stay on as PN leader.
On the other hand, the majority of Labourites (65.3 per cent) said he should not stay on at the helm of the party. While 43.9 per cent of floating votes were undecided, 37.4 per cent said they wanted Dr Fenech Adami to stay on.
The respondents were also asked who they would want as PN leader should Dr Fenech Adami resign.
The highest percentage, 41 per cent, said they thought Lawrence Gonzi should lead, while 39 per cent said they were undecided. The runners-up were Austin Gatt (7.8 per cent) and John Dalli (4.4 per cent).
In fact, 62.1 per cent of Nationalists said they see Dr Gonzi as future leader. Dr Gonzi scored the highest among Labourites too (25.8 per cent), although 45.2 per cent were undecided.
Asked how they would have voted in the general election if all political parties agreed that Malta should become a member of the EU, 77.7 per cent said they would have voted the way they did.
Those who said they would have voted differently amounted to 10.9 per cent, while 11.5 per cent said they were undecided.
A total of 46.3 per cent said they did not believe that Alternattiva Demokratika should have a seat in parliament, while 36.8 per cent said they agreed and 16.9 per cent said they were undecided.
A total of 43.2 per cent of respondents said they considered themselves as Nationalists, while 25.1 per cent of the respondents said they were Labourites. A high 31.3 per cent said they considered themselves as floating voters, while only 0.4 per cent said they supported Alternattiva.