Joseph Muscat's "coalition of progressives" won the European Parliament elections yesterday with a landslide victory of about 55 per cent over the Nationalist Party's 40 per cent.
It is the largest electoral victory by any political party since the 1955 general election.
A charged Labour leader last night spoke of the result as the "beginning" of a voyage as he addressed thousands of supporters who lined the streets surrounding the Ħamrun headquarters for an impromptu meeting.
"A progressive movement was born today," he said. "The people have made a clear choice between yesterday's political parties and tomorrow's progressive movement. There are no blues or reds, no yes or no votes but a coalition of people ready for change..."
Both political parties projected an absolute majority win for Labour shortly after the counting in Naxxar began at about 12.45 p.m. but while the general secretary of the Nationalist Party (PN) spoke of Labour winning 57 per cent of the vote, the PL itself gave a more conservative result of 54 per cent was likely.
The Prime Minister said the result was worse than he was hoping for but better than expected. He did not say whether he would be reshuffling the Cabinet, saying it was his prerogative and he would decide either way on the basis of what was in the best national interest.
The votes in the pigeonholes of PN incumbent MEP Simon Busuttil immediately put him as a front-runner, followed by David Casa and Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas on the PN's side. The race was more open for the PL's candidates with Louis Grech, Marlene Mizzi, Edward Scicluna and Joseph Cuschieri all having a strong showing on the first-count.
In Gozo, PN's candidate Marthese Portelli surpassed the first-count votes of Dr Busuttil and Gozitan candidate Christian Zammit also did well in this district.
The situation is not very clear for the smaller parties but it appears that they did not fare well at all.
Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) is said to have collapsed from the nine per cent achieved five years ago to an estimated 2.3 per cent.
Allejanza Nazzjonali (AN) does not really feature while far-right independent candidate Norman Lowell is said to have polled a substantial number of votes. "Our little flag is still flying but we can't be too cheerful," he said.
He said that AD had been around for 20 years playing the media very carefully while his Imperium Europa was ignored and treated quite shabbily. He lashed out at the "stupid" electorate who went out like a flock of sheep to vote for discredited politicians.
AD chairman Arnold Cassola called it "one of the worst results ever". In fact, he said, he was particularly disappointed that Mr Lowell seemed to have been close to his party's result.
He said the election was more polarised than usual, with more block votes and less cross-voting. He said there was a tough road ahead for the party because it was evident it did not get its message across.
AN leader Josie Muscat said he would be analysing the results of the different parties around the EU before commenting because he never saw this as a national election. He never expected to be elected and always had his feet firmly on the ground.
The Leader of the Opposition and of the PL, Dr Muscat said the public had responded to the call of his party to set up a new movement. The party attracted many non-Labourites but this was just the beginning.
"The government of Lawrence Gonzi is falling apart. This is a strong message to Dr Gonzi," Dr Muscat said in a television address.
He also appealed for civil and respectful celebrations and general secretary Jason Micallef made an even more heartfelt appeal on the party's TV station for supporters to follow the party's instructions.
It was deputy leader Toni Abela who was the first to announce Labour's absolute majority victory at the counting hall instead of the general secretary.
PL finance spokesman Charles Mangion said that this was a vote in favour of Labour and not simply a protest vote against the government.
PN deputy leader Tonio Borg said the outcome was disappointing for his party and one would be foolish to ignore the message sent by the electorate.
At the Naxxar counting hall, Dr Borg said the PN was retaining its two seats in the European Parliament but he did not talk about the fate of the sixth seat that Malta would gain once the Lisbon Treaty was ratified.
In fact, both political parties were reluctant to speculate about who would win the sixth seat because this depended on the way votes would be transferred between candidates.
Dr Borg said the government was elected on a five-year programme and it was just one year into its mandate. It would continue to fulfil its programme while it would analyse this result.
Turnout for this year's elections was almost 79 per cent, compared to 82 per cent five years ago. The difference between the PL and the PN is expected to range between 33,000 and 35,000 votes.
In the general election last year, the margin of victory for the PN was a very slim 1,500.
In the 2004 EP election, the PL won 48.4 per cent of the vote to the PN's 39.8 per cent.
The Labour victory comes exactly a year after Dr Muscat became party leader.