The Labour Party won the European Parliament election by a 33,000-vote margin, a year from its huge general election victory, but which party will win the sixth seat is still unclear.

Labour won 53 per cent of the votes cast and the Nationalist Party lagged behind with 40 per cent, a lower percentage than what it had obtained in the 2013 general election.

Even though the PL polled two per cent less than its share in the same election in 2009, this was its third consecutive EP victory since Malta joined the EU in 2004.

Last night, it was confirmed that the PL had won three seats while the PN retained two.

The fate of the sixth seat, which was held by Labour, depends upon which of the two main parties inherits votes of third parties. Vote transfers are still under way.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he was “humbled” by the EP elections result, which he said exceeded expectations.

PN leader Simon Busuttil said the result was “disappointing”.

He acknowledged his party was still “far from being the natural choice of the majority” but said it would work harder than ever to reach this position again.

The surprise of the night was Norman Lowell’s Imperium Europa that campaigned on an anti-immigrant ticket and looked set to beat Alternattiva Demokratika to third place.

AD only managed 2.7 per cent, or about 7,000 votes, with chairman Arnold Cassola saying he would fulfil his mandate to run the party until October despite the dismal showing.

Vote sorting at the Naxxar counting hall started at noon with Labour agents visibly upbeat by the 75 per cent turnout.

Although the turnout represented a drop of almost four points over the 2009 MEP election, it still gave Labour insiders a level of comfort after the fear, early in the campaign, that core voters may abstain.

Labour agents burst into chants of “Joseph, Joseph” when it became clear their party had won and celebratory carcades took place around the island.

As expected, former Labour leader Alfred Sant was the runaway candidate, expecting to win more than 50,000 votes and getting elected on the first count.

He was set to be the only candidate to surpass the quota of about 33,000 votes on the first count.

Incumbent Roberta Metsola was the lead PN candidate with a tally expected to go above 30,000 but falling just short of the quota.

Additional reporting Matthew Xuereb and Ivan Martin.

  European Parliament Elections
  2004 Percentage 2009 Percentage 2014** Percentage
Registered Voters 304,283 322,441  
Turnout* 250,692 82.4% 254,039 78.8% 78.8% 74.8%
Party performance
Nationalist Party 97,688 39.8% 100,486 40.5% 99,821 40.1%
Labour Party 118,893 48.4% 135,917 54.8% 132,808 53.3%
Alternattiva Demokratika 22,938 9.3% 5,802 2.3% 6,699 2.7%
Others 4,510 2.5% 732 2.4% 9,649 3.9%
* Percentages are of registered voters.  **Party results are based on forecasts correct at time of printing.

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