Narrow or gaping, the margins between the political parties have varied considerably, especially over recent general elections.

The Labour Party’s biggest victory was in 1945 when it won 76.2 percent of the vote, but that was an unusual contest, with the PN and the Constitutional Party having refused to take part, insisting that Malta should first be given a new constitution. That was the general election which saw Dom Mintoff elected for the first time.

The second best electoral result for the Labour Party was in 1947 with 59.9% of the vote (compared to 18% for the PN, its worse result, conditioned by the post-war situation). The difference between the parties was 44,104 votes.

The PN did best in 1932 when it won 59.8% of the vote after a general election which was delayed by constitutional upheaval.

CLOSEST GENERAL ELECTION

The closest general election result was in 2008 when the PN got 49.34% and the MLP got 48.79%, meaning that no party got an absolute majority. It was also close in 1981, with the PN winning 50.91% to Labour’s 49.07%.

The PN had a five-seat parliamentary majority after the 1998 and 2003 general elections (35 to 30), the biggest since 1966 when the PN had 28 seats to Labour’s 22 when the Chamber had 50 seats. The difference varied after previous elections but in those cases more than two parties made it to parliament.

RECENT ELECTIONS

In 1992 PN won 51.77 of the vote to Labour’s 46.50%, a difference of 13,021 votes.

But within five years, in 1996, the pendulum had swung, with Labour winning 50.72% of the votes to the PN’s 48.8%, a difference of 7,633.

22 months on, and in October 1998 the PN won 51.81% to Labour’s 46.97, a difference of 12,817.

In the wake of the EU referendum in 2003, the PN won that year’s election with 51.79% of the vote to Labour’s 47.51%, a difference of 12,080.

But the gap all but disappeared in 2008 when neither party won an absolute majority of the votes. The PN won 49.34 and the PL 48.79. That meant a vote difference of just 1,580.