No majority government - AD

The electorate has decided not to award the government to any single party because no party won an absolute majority of votes, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo told The Times soon after the slim PN victory was announced by its general secretary Joe Saliba last night.

Dr Vassallo said it was "really bad news" to anticipate a result before the first count is announced.

"There is no official first count. What is certain is that both the other parties are under 50 per cent. The one that has most votes is likely to govern but this will only be known if and when the last AD candidate is eliminated in the election. And we will have to wait a very long time for that," Dr Vassallo said at about 10 p.m. He compared Mr Saliba's announcement of victory from the Naxxar counting hall half an hour earlier to Alfred Sant's decision in the referendum to take control of the streets with carcades.

"It is still too early for someone to take complete control," he insisted. Following six samples of the first count, Mr Saliba had said he was still uncertain, and even now, he spoke of "indications" of victory, Dr Vassallo pointed out, adding that the win had not been announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi because there was a "remote" possibility that it would have to be taken back.

AD was still in the running in about four districts and nobody knew what the situation would be on the number two count, or later on, Dr Vassallo said.

"For us, this is a normal election; we always fight for the fifth place in every district.

"Obviously, we would have liked much more support, but we seem to have doubled it from the last election in 2003," he said.