Women candidates received just over 10 per cent of first-preference votes in Saturday’s general election but only four of the 26 contenders had managed to make it into Parliament until last night.
There were women candidates on all electoral districts except the seventh.
The 26 candidates between them brought in 32,124 first-preference votes, with Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro Preca the runaway winner with a haul of 5,707 first-count votes on the sixth electoral district. She even beat Gozitan veteran politician Giovanna Debono, who received 4,756 first-count votes on the sister island.
Marlene Farrugia also managed to be re-elected with 2,525 first-count votes on the fifth district and 358 on the sixth.
Gozo’s Justyne Caruana was the fourth woman elected to Parliament so far with 2,757 first-count votes.
Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff’s daughter, Yana Mintoff Bland, contested the first and second districts, both Labour strongholds, but only managed to put together 355 votes from the two.
Meanwhile PN general council president Paula Mifsud Bonnici had a good showing on the first district with 1,368 first-count votes.
Former Labour MP Helena Dalli won 441 votes from the second district and 1,037 from the third but re-election is looking difficult for her. The same goes for former Labour MP Rita Law, who was in Parliament between 1996 and 1998; she only received 37 votes on the second district and 650 on the third.
Ingrid Brownrigg ran for the first time and obtained 718 votes on the two districts she contested on the PN ticket.
Alternattiva Demokratika’s Angele Deguara got 254 votes from the fourth district and just 50 from the ninth.
The PL’s Deborah Schembri, who became a household name during the divorce referendum campaign, garnered 485 votes on the 11th district and 1,613 on the 12th. She was edging closer to being elected last night though her prospects hung in the balance.
TV personality Claudette Buttigieg did well for her first appearance, collecting 704 votes from PN voters on the eight district and 1,519 on the 12th.
Among the other women who failed to get elected were businesswoman Marion Mizzi, human rights lawyer Therese Comodini Cachia, Joanna Agius, economist Kristy Debono and General Workers’ Union lawyer Joanne Vella Cuschieri.