The Labour Party retained the foothold it achieved in Gozo during last year’s European Parliament election as it captured an overall majority in eight Gozitan councils.

Making significant gains in six of the Gozitan localities, Labour retained a relative majority over the Nationalist Party.

A breakdown of votes showed Labour keeping up the momentum of growing influence in Gozo, which was first evident in the 2013 general election.

Although the result is likely to have been influenced by the spring hunting referendum held on the same day as local elections, Labour made significant gains in the PN stronghold of Nadur and won a majority for the first time in Munxar.

Labour captured 48 per cent of the vote in Nadur, an increase of almost seven per cent. But it also increased its tally by almost 12 percentage points in Żebbuġ.

The finger could be pointing towards other factors linked to individual issues and concerns

The eight Gozitan localities together gave Labour 49 per cent of the vote against the PN’s 48 per cent with almost three per cent of the electorate voting for independent and Alternattiva Demokratika candidates.

The result in Gozo was cause for concern within the PN since it did not mimic the trend in other localities across Malta where the party registered gains.

But Labour’s Gozitan success had its flipside in the party’s southern hinterland.

While the PL still retained strong majorities throughout the localities of the second, fourth and fifth districts, it lost traction when compared with the 2012 local election results.

In Birżebbuġa, Labour lost nine percentage points, which party insiders partially blamed on the loss of personal votes for the popular former mayor Joseph Farrugia, who did not contest.

However, while Mr Farrugia’s non-candidature may have played a part in this result, it does not explain a similar significant reduction in Labour’s vote in Marsaxlokk.

The fishing village saw Labour obtain 74 per cent of the vote, down from 81 per cent three years ago.

Both Birżebbuġa and Marsaxlokk were at the centre of controversy over the new gas power station. While some voters may have rued the missed deadline for the promised power station that would deliver cleaner air, others may have used their vote to register their objection to the mooring of a massive gas storage tanker inside Marsaxlokk Bay.

But with Labour registering drops in Żurrieq, Paola, Marsa and Ħamrun the finger could be pointing towards other factors linked to individual issues and concerns.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat hinted at this during yesterday’s post-result press conference when he said the government would take heed of the concerns of those who did not vote Labour.

Labour insiders have played down the significance of the overall result, which saw the party capture 53.5 per cent of the vote in the 34 councils. They insisted on drawing comparisons with the results obtained in the individual localities during the 2013 general election rather than the results of the 2012 council elections.

The result provided PN insiders with some relief since it took the heat off Simon Busuttil’s leadership

“The outcome is less dramatic and shows the party lost around one percentage point when compared to the general election,” a party source said.

While the parties can carry out such an analysis because the general election data they possess gives them the ability to hone in on individual localities within the districts, it is impossible for the media to reach such conclusions.

However, a direct comparison with the general election can be carried out with the 11th district since local council elections were held in Mosta, Attard and Balzan.

In the 2013 election Labour obtained 42 per cent against the PN’s 55 per cent, with AD collecting three per cent of the vote.

The three localities in 2015 saw the Labour party obtain 38 per cent, a drop of four points when compared with the general election. The PN registered 59 per cent while AD and the independent candidates got three per cent. This district gives an indication of the general increase experienced by the PN across all areas in Malta.

The result provided PN insiders with some relief since it took the heat off Simon Busuttil’s leadership, which came under pressure after the European Parliament elections in 2014 when the Nationalist Party performed badly.

But public euphoria aside, PN insiders will be hoping the gains will become a trend.

Bridging the general election’s 36,000 vote gap will take a greater effort and with Labour enjoying the power of incumbency the road could be much more difficult than it appears.

Percentage of votes

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com