The Malta Labour Party has won the first European Parliament elections to be held in Malta with 48 per cent of first count votes.
The Nationalist Party won 41 per cent, Alternattiva Demokratika 10 per cent and the independent candidates one per cent, according to projections by both major parties.
Labour supporters took to the streets in celebration at 1.45 p.m. just 90 minutes after the vote sorting process started at Ta' Qali vote counting centre yesterday.
The MLP's deputy leader, Michael Falzon, and general secretary Jason Micallef broke the news to supporters on television, the former saying the difference between the major parties was close to 17,000 votes.
That sent thousands of flag-waving supporters in celebration for the first time in eight years, with carcades converging on the MLP headquarters in Hamrun where an impromptu mass meeting was later held.
PN general secretary Joe Saliba immediately conceded defeat. "We respect the people's sovereign verdict," he said, adding that, as predicted, Alternattiva had eaten into his party's votes.
While the vote-counting process is expected to continue until at least Tuesday, indications show that three Labour candidates and two PN candidates will make it to the European Parliament, with AD's Arnold Cassola just missing out, although the possibility that he could just make it still exists.
Labour leader Alfred Sant said the MLP had succeeded to make a difference. "These elections have now shown that the Labour Party is the biggest party in Malta. This fills us with courage. What we have been telling the country is now being better understood."
The party, he said, had based its campaign on being close to the people and championing the people's causes, including jobs, education, the environment and social welfare.
"The message for Dr Gonzi is that gone is the time for empty words and unkept promises," he said. Labour and its MEPs were ready to cooperate with all those working for job creation, he said. "This is the beginning of a better future for Maltese families."
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the people had made a choice that had to be respected and the government would seek to work together with all the Maltese MEPs in Malta's interests.
He said the first message he read in this election's outcome was that the electorate wanted the government to work better. He said the government had a duty in the national interest to make difficult decisions even at a political price for the PN. Possibly, the government needed to explain its decisions better.
AD chairman Harry Vassallo said he was overjoyed by his party's showing, since it had increased the number of votes by a factor of 10.
"The Maltese have given a lesson in democracy. This was a big victory for the Greens and the opening of a new era in local politics."
By far the most successful of all 27 candidates was former Malta-EU Information Centre head Simon Busuttil, who was the first to be elected. Joseph Muscat headed Labour's list.
"The people have spoken and we have to stop, listen and see what the people are saying," Dr Busuttil, a 35-year-old lawyer, said in first comments at the counting hall.
John Attard Montalto, expressing satisfaction at the result, said he projected to win a little less than 29,000 first count votes including 4,000 pledged to him by Nationalist supporters.
Mr Muscat said that if elected he would strive to keep the promises he made and remain close to the people with frequent home visits. He said one of the first challenges in the EP would be to work on the issue of the working time directive. He felt MEPs should work together as a team for the benefit of the country.
At the general elections last year the PN had won 51.8 per cent of first count votes, the MLP 47.5 per cent and AD 0.68 per cent. At the time, turnout was 96 per cent, compared to the 82 per cent on Saturday. PN officials were quick to point out yesterday that the biggest number of abstentions was in districts were the PN normally has a majority.
The vote counting process at the Ta' Qali centre, which started just before 7 p.m. yesterday, was slow because of its nature, but steady. As projected, by noon, all ballot boxes were emptied and the stamps on the ballot sheets checked.
The all important sorting process, which determines the first preference vote, started immediately after when the ballots were turned face up and piled on the basis of the first preferences as the tension gradually built up behind the perspex in the counting hall.
The amount of cross-party voting was evident, with Prof. Cassola, especially, achieving several first preference votes with the Nationalists getting the rest.
Party officials estimated that Prof. Cassola obtained up to 20 per cent of first preference votes in localities like Sliema, traditionally a PN stronghold.
Some voters used their voting document to send a message - one voting document had "crazy", "thieves" and "mafia" scribbled across the candidates' names.
With the ballot papers being almost a metre long and the vote counting process all carried out manually, official first count results were not expected before the early hours of the morning.
The final determination of the five seats is not expected before tomorrow, or even Wednesday. Once that process is completed, the vote counting of the local council elections in 22 localities, also held on Saturday, will be taken in hand.
Dr Sant visited the counting hall last night when he also congratulated Prof. Cassola on his good showing.
A crew of Where's Everybody? was attacked while filming the cheering Labour supporters in Hamrun yesterday. A member of the team said bottles were initially thrown at them and then their car's rear windscreen was smashed with a wooden plank. A police report was filed. Nobody was injured.