The Labour Party is expected to win about five per cent more first count votes than the Nationalist Party in the local elections that were held last Saturday with vote counting starting today.
Labour is expected to poll 49 per cent of the votes, the Nationalists 44 per cent and Alternattiva Demokratika and independent candidates seven per cent, according to PN general secretary Joe Saliba.
The MLP's general secretary, Jason Micallef, said his party's predictions for the local elections more or less tallied with the Nationalists', though he did not rule out that the MLP may gain an absolute majority.
"We have to keep in mind that this group of local councils are normally the toughest for us because most are traditionally Nationalist," Mr Micallef said.
The PN has worked out its predictions following the outcome of last week's European elections, where the MLP won 48.4 per cent of the vote, the PN 39.7 per cent and AD 9.3 per cent.
The action returns to the Ta' Qali counting hall today for the second counting session in a week.
The counting of votes for the 22 local council elections will start at 8 a.m. Council elections were held in Attard, Birzebbuga, Floriana, Gharghur, Gzira, Hamrun, Kercem, Luqa, Marsaxlokk, Mosta, Munxar, Paola, Qala, Qormi, Safi, San Lawrenz, Sta Lucija, Siggiewi, Swieqi, Vittoriosa, Xaghra and Zebbug, Gozo.
A total of 237 candidates contested the poll - 125 standing on the PN ticket, 97 for the MLP, three for AD, five for specific groups and seven independents.
There were 95,234 eligible voters for the local elections. A total of 82 per cent cast their vote, the highest being in Kercem (90 per cent) and the lowest in Swieqi and Zebbug, Gozo (73 per cent).
The official results are expected to be known either late this evening or tomorrow morning. However, the political parties are expected to have a good indication of the result by this afternoon.
Should the PN's estimates prove correct, this would mean that Labour would have retained the same support it obtained three years ago, when it got 49.3 per cent of the vote. The PN's share would, however, have dropped by four percentage points.
In March, 2001, the PN obtained 48.1 per cent of first count votes but in that election Alternattiva had not fielded any candidates.
Mr Saliba said it was becoming increasingly evident that a pattern had been established during "mid-term elections", in which 90 per cent of MLP supporters turned out to vote, while just three-quarters of the Nationalists went to the polling booths.
"It's very clear. All the votes we lost have gone to AD, while Labour has made absolutely no gains. This, of course, doesn't mean that we can sit on our laurels," Mr Saliba said.
The Department of Information will be publishing the official results of the local elections on its website.
http://www.doi.gov.mt