The MEP election took a number of twists and turns yesterday as Labour clinched its fourth seat, the most likely female candidates from each party were elbowed out because of their surnames and John Attard Montalto made an incredible comeback.

This means Malta's team of MEPs remains mostly the same, with Nationalist Party (PN) incumbents Simon Busuttil and David Casa retaining their seats together with Labour's Louis Grech and Dr Attard Montalto.

Dr Attard Montalto had already been written off because of a poor first-count result but he inherited thousands of votes as the weaker candidates dropped out of the race.

The only MEP to lose his place was Glen Bedingfield who will now be replaced by Edward Scicluna. Prof. Scicluna sailed comfortably through, despite this being his first election.

Meanwhile, Joseph Cuschieri, the man who gave up his seat in Parliament allowing the then new leader of the Labour party (PL), Joseph Muscat, himself a former MEP, to be co-opted and then become Leader of the Opposition, will be an observer MEP until the controversial Lisbon Treaty is ratified and Malta officially gets its sixth seat.

Against all odds, Dr Attard Montalto's gains were enough to push him through after spending three days at the counting hall without sleep hoping to be confirmed in Labour's top three.

Yesterday's fight to the finish was tense as the PN's Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas and the PL's Marlene Mizzi, both at one stage heavily tipped to be elected, saw their hopes fade despite having gained a considerable number of first-count votes. Both blamed the result on the fact that their main competitors inherited thousands of votes because their surnames put them higher up on the ballot sheet.

"This is an alphabet democracy. The PN had about 20,000 block votes in alphabetical order, so I did not stand a chance. It worked in favour of David Casa but so did the fact that he, like Simon Busuttil, was an incumbent," Dr Metsola Tedesco Triccas said, adding that it was too soon to say whether she would give it another shot next time round.

Dr Attard Montalto made substantial gains from the elimination of Sharon Ellul Bonici and Claudette Abela Baldacchino, sailing past Dr Cuschieri. He therefore beat off stiff competition from Mrs Mizzi who was not pleased with the result.

"If your surname does not begin with A, B or C do not run for politics," she said, half-jokingly.

Dr Attard Montalto took his unexpected victory in his stride. "If it had anything to do with my surname I guess it was my good fortune. But if that was the case I would not have had to do any campaigning," Dr Attard Montalto said with an emphatic smile plastered on his face.

He explained this was the toughest election he ever had but it reaffirmed his record as a politician who has never lost an election.

Throughout the day, the Labour leadership remained cautious about announcing that the PL had clinched the sixth seat but as the PN's candidates were eliminated, the counting agents became more and more jubilant, with chants of "Viva l-Labour" finally breaking out after three strenuous days in the counting hall.

While Dr Muscat remained absent from the hall and general secretary Jason Micallef kept a low profile, deputy leaders Toni Abela and Anġlu Farrugia got their supporters going when they each visited the hall to confirm Labour's fourth seat.

"The 35,000 vote difference the PL gained over the PN has justifiably translated into a two-seat majority," Dr Abela said, flanked by counting agents.

The five strong Labour candidates gained ground as the weaker ones were eliminated, so much so that, although they struggled to reach the quota, they all had more votes than the PN's third runner-up.

One of yesterday's determining moments was the elimination of Alternattiva Demokratika's Arnold Cassola.

A third of his votes were non-transferable and the rest were evenly distributed between the two big parties. Those rooting for Dr Metsola Tedesco Triccas hoped she would gain the bulk of Dr Cassola's votes but, out of 7,514, a massive 3,189 were non-transferable.

Labour made slightly more gains from AD voters with 2,238 against the PN's 2,087 split evenly between Mr Casa and Dr Metsola Tedesco Triccas but they were not enough to secure the PN's third seat.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.