Parties meet next week over electoral law changes

The Labour Party has established a "consistent winning pattern" which will lead to victory in the general election in two-and-a-half years' time, according to party general secretary Jason Micallef.

But Nationalist Party general secretary Joe Saliba reminded the Labour Party that the PN has always emerged stronger in the toughest of times.

The MLP was savouring the sweet taste of success yesterday after the PN was dealt one of its biggest ever blows at the polls in Saturday's local council elections.

The MLP won 53.2 per cent of the first preference votes while the PN was left trailing at 44 per cent and Alternattiva Demokratika won 1.73 per cent. The MLP made gains in all localities except Iklin, where AD did well.

Mr Micallef said his party had convincingly won three elections in nine months, rooting itself as the party that the majority of the Maltese could relate to. During the coming months, the MLP would carry on working incessantly to entice new support away from traditional PN followers.

Mr Micallef dismissed suggestions that the Nationalists could still turn the electorate in its favour, as it had done after losing the local council elections in 2001 and 2002.

"By now, it's very clear that the issue of EU membership won the Nationalists the general election. Since then, the MLP has clarified its stand on the EU, to the effect that we also won three seats in the European Parliament."

On the other side of the fence, Mr Saliba said he was not surprised that the MLP was already sounding the tune of victory - as it had done prior the 2003 election.

The MLP won 52.2 per cent of the vote in the local elections in 2002 (which included the Zejtun and Marsa elections not contested this time) but lost the general election a year later.

Mr Saliba said there were a number of reasons which led to his party's poor performance at the polls.

"The first two years of a new government and the first year inside the EU will always bring the toughest measures. We need to keep communicating with everybody and explain the reasons behind certain measures.

"It's easy to say that the government should take popular decisions. It's even easier to start organising mass meetings to drum up support but is this the way forward?" he asked.

Mr Saliba said his party needed to work closely with the government to reap the results of the reforms as soon as possible.

"Losing an election is part of the democratic process but we're still in time to prepare ourselves for the big test," he said.

Asked to reply to demands made by Opposition Leader Alfred Sant that the time was ripe to ensure strict proportionality once the next election is held, Mr Saliba said the MLP leader was either spouting gimmicks or else was misinformed.

"The parties have already agreed that we are meeting on March 22 to discuss changes to the electoral law," Mr Saliba said.

Outgoing St Venera mayor Michael Caruana admitted he was taken by surprise with the result in his locality, which, for the first time, will be led by the MLP.

"Our indications were that we were going to increase our majority in St Venera," a disappointed Mr Caruana said. "At about 2.30 p.m. on Saturday we started contacting a number of residents who told us they were not going to vote or else we couldn't track them down."

It was not local policies that ousted the PN from the council, so much so that all PN councillors were re-elected, Mr Caruana said.

In Mqabba too, Noel Galea was in the unenviable position of stepping down as mayor, despite increasing his personal tally by 500 votes.

"From the home visits we made, there were hardly any complaints at council level, so I guess ultimately people wanted to pass on a message through the local councils," Mr Galea said.

During his news conference on Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the government was taking responsible measures which, it knew, hurt its popularity but would benefit the country over time.

The elections were marked by poor turnout, at least by Maltese standards, with 67 per cent casting their vote.