John Attard Montalto is likely to keep his seat in the European Parliament as he is inheriting approximately half of Claudette Abela Baldacchino's vote, pushing him to third place among the labour candidates, observers at the Naxxar counting centre said this afternoon.

Counting agents are currently distributing Mrs Abela Baldacchino's 16,167 votes. Dr Attard Montalto had 17,338 votes before this distribution started.

The candidates also vying for the third and fourth seats, Joseph Cuschieri and Marlene Mizzi, had 23,731 and 21,394 votes, respectively.

The surprise turn of events is bad news for Marlene Mizzi, whose election prospects have now dimmed although she might well end up inheriting more votes than Mr Cuschieri.

Dr Attard Montalto's name was printed immediately under that of Mrs Abela Baldacchino on the ballot paper and he appears to have benefited as a result since many people tend to vote from the top downwards after selecting their first preference, the observers said.

PL deputy leader Anglu Farrugia, who was welcomed at the counting centre a few minutes ago, admitted that the alphabet put people whose name started with the first letters of the alphabet at a certain advantage. However, he said, the PL was proud of all its 12 candidates.

The labour candidates are being led by Louis Grech, who has 32,166 votes at this stage, followed by Edward Scicluna with 29,014 votes.

Dr Attard Montalto is the only candidate to have ministerial experience, having served as Industry Minister in the Sant government. He resigned from the House of Representatives five years ago when he was elected MP.