The counting of votes cast in local elections in half of Malta’s localities has started at Naxxar counting hall, with the focus clearly being on whether the PN has managed to narrow the 17% deficit it suffered when the elections were held in the same 34 localities in 2012.
The PN has said it does not expect to win a majority, as many of the localities where the elections were held are traditionally Labour-leaning. But it hopes to narrow the gap and show it is ‘back in business’ – a term used by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.
However a turnout of 68% last Saturday compared to 59% when the same elections were last held, could be a bad omen for the PN. The elections were held concurrently with the spring hunting referendum, and the turnout grew most in the localities having large hunter communities. The majority of hunters is known to vote Labour.
The Labour electoral campaign was the strongest yet seen for local elections, with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat viewing this as a mid-term test. He repeatedly declared his wish to overturn a trend which saw the opposition party winning at the local level.
While the main focus will be on the overall battle between the political parties, once that result is known, attention will shift to particular localities where the mayorship could shift.
Will the Nationalist Party regain St Paul’s Bay after having lost it last time round? The Labour council performed badly, having been undermined by internal division, and the PN is hopeful that it will win the locality back.
A sharper battle has shaped up in Mosta. Last time around, the PN regained the locality from Labour, but although it won a majority of council seats, it did not win a majority of votes. Mosta was the locality where the two main parties held the biggest number of activities in the run-up to polling day.
Some observers think Siggiewi could be in for a surprise. This has traditionally been a bastion of support for the Nationalist Party since the 1950s when then PN leader George Borg Olivier worked there as a notary. Turnout last Saturday was up 9% in this locality. Would a high turnout of hunters have shifted the balance? The gap was only of 4.5% in 2012.
Much the same applies for Nadur in Gozo, hometown of former Nationalist ministers Giovanna Debono and Chris Said, but also home to a big hunters’ community. Turnout was up 14%. It was no coincidence that much of the political argument before the elections was about Gozo and specifically, about Mrs Debono.
A less important race is being run in Qala. Labour won that locality from the PN by a handful of votes in 2012. Will the PN be able to wrestle it back?
A direct comparison of the votes won by the parties this time and in 2012 cannot be made since 16-year-olds voted for the first time in this round of elections.
Most results are expected to be in today, but vote-counting and allocation of seats by preference in the bigger localities will continue into tomorrow.
Timesofmalta.com will carry updates as soon as soon as there are developments.