PN adds six seats, Labour loses one

The Labour Party, which won the local council elections by a large majority of votes, still has one less councillor while the Nationalist Party managed to get six more elected when compared to the 2006 elections in the same localities.

As the vote counting process came to an end yesterday, it emerged that despite the two parties pulling in roughly the same proportion of votes three years ago and this year, the PN has narrowed the gap in terms of council seats.

Out of the 161 councillors elected in all, the Nationalists secured 73 seats when compared to 67 in 2006. The PL won 88 seats when, three years ago, it had secured 89.

Labour polled 55 per cent of votes cast against the PN's 44 per cent, both one percentage point more than in 2006. The Nationalists also managed to win back the mayorship of three localities.

Alternattiva Demokratika did not succeed in electing any councillors, after managing two in the previous election, and neither did other independent parties.

Until these elections, AD had a councillor in Sannat and another in Sliema while Josie Muscat (now the leader of Azzjoni Nazzjonali) had in 2006 contested successfully on an independent ticket in Marsascala.

Overall, the PN got itself seven new seats - one each in Marsascala, San Ġwann, Pieta, Mtarfa and Sannat and two in Sliema - but lost one in Mġarr.

The PL won four new seats but lost five. Two were obtained in Marsascala and one each in Mġarr and Sliema. The party however lost councillors in Mtarfa, Pieta and San Ġwann and two in Żabbar.

The total number of councillors elected rose from 159 to 161. This was because in Marsacala the number of seats increased from seven to nine and in Sliema from nine to 11. In Żabbar the number of seats went down from 11 to nine.