With the Labour Party on the way to electing three MEPs against the Nationalist Party's two, the potential sixth seat hung in the balance as vote counting progressed throughout the night.

Although the PN itself was ahead in its tally of votes, the way they were distributed between its second- and third-placed candidates, after runaway winner Simon Busuttil, made it more likely for the PL to capture its fourth seat instead.

While the PN's David Casa was sure to get elected, having inherited the bulk of Dr Busuttil's surplus votes, his fellow candidate Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas had almost 10,000 fewer votes than Labour's fourth placed candidate Marlene Mizzi.

PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier yesterday evening played down his party's chances of picking up a third seat. His political counterpart Jason Micallef was also reluctant to acknowledge his party's chances of hauling in four.

"It is still premature to come to the conclusion that Labour will be picking up its fourth seat. From the way votes are distributed the PN still has more surplus votes than Labour after the first five candidates are elected," Mr Micallef said.

The sixth seat in the European Parliament will come Malta's way if the Irish vote in favour of the EU adopting the Lisbon Treaty.

Dr Busuttil was the first candidate-elect, surpassing the quota on the first count by more than 25,000 votes.

Nobody on Labour's side reached the quota on the first count but Labour's two front-runners Louis Grech and Edward Scicluna were last night set to get elected.

Mr Grech doubled his personal tally from five years ago while Prof. Scicluna's first foray into politics proved successful.

The PL's third seat was most likely to be occupied by Joseph Cuschieri, who was running just ahead of Mrs Mizzi.

Vote counting continued throughout the night with votes belonging to candidates on the lower rungs being distributed according to subsequent voter preferences.