Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday asked his party’s elected local councillors to continue house visits and remain close to the people.

The Labour Party won almost 56 per cent of the local council vote and if one excludes Sliema, which was included in these elections for the Nationalist Party’s “convenience”, he said, the PL’s share would rise to 58 per cent.

“We welcome the result with humility,” Dr Muscat told a press conference in a non-triumphant tone.

Dr Muscat outlined Labour’s gains in central and northern parts of the country and said the party was managing to change the political map and not simply be the party for the south.

He said he was confident that Labour councillors would deliver in the new localities entrusted to the party such as Safi, Qala and St Paul’s Bay.

Despite the PN’s fierce and continuous “negative campaigning” in Mosta, Dr Muscat was pleased to note that Labour retained a marginal majority at the first count. “With humility, I thank the people of Mosta for their confidence in us,” he said.

Dr Muscat assured the electorate, particularly those who did not vote, that their message would not be forgotten and Labour would remain close to the people. “The message must be that we don’t need to get a thrashing to go into people’s kitchens and listen to them,” he said. Asked if he still believed Labour was the underdog in this round of elections, Dr Muscat stood by his claim: “Being the underdog does not mean that you lose but that you start at a disadvantage.”

He agreed with journalists who said Labour often won local council elections but lost at the more important general elections.

“In fact, we are still the underdogs.That is why we are not waving flags and jumping in jubilation. This will still be an uphill struggle to convince people that we deserve a chance to run the country,” Dr Muscat said.

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