Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this evening again hailed the results achieved by the PN in the local elections but said a lot of hard work remained in store for the PN to fully recover its gap to Labour.
Speaking at a press conference with the PN candidates, Dr Busuttil said the most important message of the local council results was that the PN had halved the gap to Labour from 2012.
But just as important, it still had the second half of the gap to bridge.
The result was encouraging and motivating, he said, as this group of localities included Labour strongholds. Labour, he said, had been playing home.
In terms of votes, the PN increased its votes by 14,000. It had stopped the loss of votes it had been experiencing since 2004 – with the exception of the 2008 election. The PN had started a turnaround and increased its votes.
Gains were made in 24 localities out of 34 including many Labour strongholds in the south such as Birzebbuga (up 18%), Marsaxlokk (14%) Zurrieq (12%) Kirkop (19%), Paola (8%), Sta Lucija (12%) and Zebbug (11%)
The PN widened its majority in St Julians (up by 19%) Swieqi (17%), San Lawrenz (12%) Attard 11%, and Balzan (13%).
In Mosta the PN extended its majority to 4% or 500 votes from a virtual dead heat and in St Paul’s Bay, the shift for the PN was of 10% and the PN won control of that council.
The PN won six new council seats and Labour lost nine.
Dr Busuttil said he would have liked to see more women candidates elected. He was satisfied, however, that many young candidates had been elected.
The results, he said, were very different from Labour predictions that it would extend its vote percentage. Labour had wanted to keep St Paul’s Bay and win Mosta, Nadur and Siggiewi. It did not do so.
Dr Busuttil said the PN was determined to be the people’s party. It was by getting closer to the people that it had achieved this result. Recovering the rest of the gap would not be easy, especially as Labour would be expected to splash out more favours and continue of its mud-slinging.
But the people were getting disillusioned by the government, the scandals it was involved in and its delivery. They were fed up by scandals such as that of the Cafe’ Premier and oil hedging as well as the €13,000 monthly to the Energy Minister’s wife without any tangible results.
Asked if the hunting referendum had impacted the result, Dr Busuttil said the PN had not campaigned in the hunting referendum, whereas Dr Muscat had participated. In Gozo, hunting may have had an impact and the result there was not as satisfactory for the PN.
MIGRANTS' TRAGEDY
At the beginning of his press conference Dr Busuttil referred to the migrants tragedy and said that action was needed to stop such deaths immediately. He welcomed plans for an EU summit on Thursday and said the Opposition was backing the government in its efforts to stop such tragedies.
The Mediterranean should no longer be a cemetery, he said. There should be a strong European naval presence in the Mediterranean to replace the former Mare Nostrum operation to ensure migrants no longer drowned. The naval presence could also stop the human trafficking currently taking place.
Europe had successfully fought piracy off Somalia and it could be just as successful in this Mediterranean operation, he said.
When migrants were rescued, the PN insisted that there should be fair sharing of responsibility among member states.