THE Labour Party notched its second victory at the polls in the space of a week, as it garnered 50.2 per cent of the vote in the local council elections, after the votes were counted yesterday.
It was another blow for the Nationalist Party which saw its share of the vote drop to 46.4 per cent, down from 48.1 per cent in the elections for the same councils three years ago.
Once again, the three Alternattiva Demokratika candidates gnawed away at the PN's share of the vote, obtaining 1.5 per cent in total. AD did not field any representatives three years ago. The independent candidates netted another 1.9 per cent first preference votes.
This year's local council elections, also held on June 12, were overshadowed by the first Maltese election for the European Parliament, in which the Labour Party bagged 48.4 per cent of the vote, the PN 39.7 per cent, and AD 9.3 per cent.
As in the Euro elections, a protest vote against the government was in evidence in the local council elections. It is worth pointing out that the PN had obtained 54 per cent of the first count votes in the same localities in 1998, when the Labour Party was in power.
The Ta' Qali counting hall exploded into chants of "Viva l-Labour, viva l-Labour" when it was evident that the MLP had obtained a majority in the large localities, increasing its tally of councillors.
The Nationalists suffered losses in most councils compared to three years ago. The party only registered noticeable gains in Gzira, where its total rose by 17 per cent, courtesy of former mayor Albert Rizzo who had contested as an independent in 2001, but now stood as a Nationalist candidate.
The PN lost a councillor in Sta Lucija, Paola, Qormi and Hamrun (they had a minority in all four), but gained one in Gzira to snatch a majority there.
The Labour Party also lost a councillor in Marsaxlokk, as former mayor Carmelo Bugeja, this time was elected as an independent after he was dropped from the Labour Party list.
The PN suffered losses in the Gozitan localities of Kercem and San Lawrenz where Labour increased its share by 5.3 per cent and eight per cent respectively at the PN's expense.
In the meantime, the MLP made huge gains in localities like Gharghur (+9.5 percentage points) and Qormi (+5.7 p.p.).
The first candidate to be elected was the popular San Lawrenz mayor Noel Formosa (PN), who obtained 175 first-count votes.
A number of mayors in fact received overwhelming approval from residents in their localities. Qormi mayor Roderick Galdes (MLP) topped the list with 3,063 votes, Birzebbuga mayor Joseph Farrugia (MLP) got no fewer than 2,326 votes, Hamrun mayor Luciano Busuttil (MLP) 1,718, and Siggiewi mayor Robert Musumeci (PN) 1,565. In Vittoriosa, Labour mayor John Boxall steamrolled the other candidates, winning over 50 per cent of the first count votes.
In the first local election held in Safi, the PN obtained 52.2 per cent of the votes.
In Swieqi, a traditionally Nationalist stronghold, the PN saw its tally dwindle by 6.8 percentage points, with the majority of votes likely to have been transferred to the AD candidate, who was elected on the last count.
AD's candidate in Attard, Ralph Cassar, obtained 10.4 per cent of the first count votes, but ended as runner-up, while the Swieqi candidate Benjamin Psaila won 10 per cent. AD's candidate in Hamrun Joanne Bugeja obtained two per cent.
AD currently have three local councillors in Birkirkara, Lija and Sliema.
Reacting to the results, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi did not sound any alarm bells, but promised that his party would listen attentively to the messages being sent out by the electorate.
Opposition Leader Alfred Sant described the result as a "convincing victory" for his party.
AD general secretary Stephen Cachia said the results augured well for his party. "This is an affirmation of AD's effective presence at local level after the success achieved by Arnold Cassola on a national level in last week's European Elections," he said.