The counting of votes cast to elect councillors in 23 localities last Saturday is starting this morning at Naxxar counting centre.
77.19 percent of registered voters cast their vote in Mdina, Cospicua, Żabbar, Victoria, Birkirkara, Fgura, Gudja, Għarb, Għaxaq, Kalkara, Lija, Marsascala, Mġarr, Msida, Naxxar, Pieta, Rabat, San Ġwann, Sannat , Sliema, Tarxien, Xgħajra and Mtarfa.
The highest percentage of voters was in Gudja - 87.1 percent, the lowest in Sliema 64.84 percent. Sliema was the only locality where less than 70 percent of voters cast their vote.
The biggest locality is Birkirkara. It is the only town where 13 councillors have to be elected.
The Nationalist and Labout Parties fielded 133 candidates each, Alternattiva Demokratika three, and there are three independents.
In 2006, when voting in these localities was held, turnout was 65.5 percent, a lower number than this year explained by the fact that no European Parliament elections were held concurrently.
The MLP won the 2006 elections with 53.96 percent of the vote compared to 42.90 for the PN and 1.78 for Alternattiva Demokratika.
As usual, there are a number of localities which the political parties will be keeping a close eye on. Msida and San Gwann, for example, appear evenly balanced but were won by Labour from the PN last time. The Nationalists hope to win them back. Rabat too is a battleground, although Labour appears confident it will retain control.
Mtarfa has its own history. It was won by Labour last time, but infighting caused the council to be dissolved. The PN took over a few months ago. But Labour, which is fielding new candidates, is hoping to get it back.
The relative strengths of the parties in the PN strongholds of Birkirkara and Sliema and the considerably smaller Cospicua (MLP) will also be closely watched with some even predicting that Birkirkara could swing to Labour in what would be the biggest upset since local council elections started being held.
The vote-counting process starts with the sorting of votes. The counting could continue to tomorrow in the bigger localities.