Turnout higher in Labour's heartland

The Labour Party seems to have been more effective in convincing its supporters in its traditional southern strongholds to vote in Saturday's election.

Turnout in the first seven districts, which leaned towards Labour in last year's general election, topped 81 per cent as opposed to 76.3 per cent in the northern districts that traditionally lean towards the Nationalist Party (PN).

This is similar to the pattern witnessed in the last general election. However, higher voter abstention in the north cannot on its own explain the PL's large margin of victory.

The overall turnout at 78.8 per cent was a historical low by Maltese standards for any nation-wide election but still represented the highest turnout across Europe. In the first European Parliament election held five years ago 82.4 per cent of the electorate voted.

Despite the drop in turnout by almost four percentage points, political party pundits still considered it positive because they were expecting higher voter abstention before Saturday.

The lowest turnout, at 72.1 per cent, was in the 12th district, which comprises St Paul's Bay, followed by the 10th district (Sliema) with 74.9 per cent.

The northern district with the highest turnout was the 8th district (Birkirkara) with 80 per cent. On the other hand, the highest turnout across all districts was in the fourth, where 82.7 per cent of registered voters cast their ballot.

In the south, the lowest turnouts were in the fifth and sixth districts where 79.8 per cent of voters cast their vote.

Election turnout

Global turnout: 78.8 per cent

Districts 1-7 turnout: 81 per cent

Districts 8-13 turnout: 76.3 per cent

Highest turnout: fourth district at 82.7 per cent

Lowest turnout: 12th district at 72.1 per cent

% turnout per district

District 1: Valletta, Floriana, Ħamrun, part of Marsa, part of Sta Venera - 80.03

District 2: Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Żabbar, Kalkara, Xagħra - 81.43

District 3: Żejtun, Fgura, Marsascala - 81.90

District 4: Gudja, Għaxaq, part of Marsa, Paola, Sta Luċija, Tarxien - 82.72

District 5: Birżebbuġa, Kirkop, Marsaxlokk, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi, Żurrieq - 79.79

District 6: Qormi, Siġġiewi, Luqa - 79.83

District 7: Żebbuġ, Dingli, Mġarr, Mtarfa, Rabat - 81.61

District 8: Birkirkara, Iklin, Lija, part of Sta Venera - 80.00

District 9: Għargħur, Msida, San Ġwann, Msida, Swieqi, Ta' Xbiex - 75.98

District 10: Gżira, Pembroke, St Julians, Sliema - 74.94

District 11: Mdina, Attard, Balzan, Mosta - 78.10

District 12: Mellieħa, Vittoriosa, Naxxar, St Paul's Bay, Cospicua, and Comino - 72.01

District 13: Gozo - 76.73