Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today that he was especially pleased that Labour had emerged stronger in the south and in Gozo, despite the strong PN campaigning in those two areas before the European elections. The party had also done well in Mosta, Zebbug, Mellieha and St Paul's Bay and Birkirkara, which it won.
Speaking on One Radio, Dr Muscat said the result of the PL victory at the European elections was not achieved in five weeks of campaigning but a year of hard work.
This, he said, was the third successive election which the Pl had won with a margin of more than 30,000 votes, the first being the 2009 EP elections.
Society had changed, and the Labour Party had responded to it through its policies and principles, Dr Muscat said It was there that its success lay, rather than better communication strategies.
Its cohesion of ideas and principles had extended beyond the party to a movement which encompassed people who associated themselves with those ideas, more than the party itself.
Having three major victories in a row was not a coincidence, but it proved that the party understood and responded to society.
He said the process of change would be continued with the decriminalisation of drugs for first time offenders and stronger action against the real criminals including seizing their assets.
The election results confirmed the changes society was undergoing, he said. The PN had banked on the PL winning a smaller majority than the general election and on winning its third seat.
But Labour's victory was actually bigger with a difference of 33,600 over a smaller turnout.
Dr Muscat said Labour had never aimed to win its fourth EP seat and it remained very difficult with Saturday's result, he said. But the actual election result and the big vote majority that Labour had won was clearly a vote of confidence in the government. There were no two ways about it.
GOZO VOTES LABOUR
Dr Muscat expressed his satisfaction that Labour, for the first time, won the Gozo vote in the EP election.
Labour also held on to and emerged stronger in the south, even though the PN placed all its resources there in the electoral campaign.
The people had told the PN that they had not forgotten how the former government ignored them in the past, Dr Muscat said.
However the PL now no longer represented just the south. It was getting stronger in the centre including Mosta, Zebbug and Birkirkara. Birkirkara on its own had voted Labour.
Labour had also practically equalled the PN in the 12 district including Mellieha and St Paul's Bay.
Labour had become the party of the whole of Malta and Gozo and was representing the urban middle class.
Dr Muscat said that after the south, where the PN waged a strong campaign based on the gas tanker, its priority had also been Gozo but here again the PL saw its majority grow to 5%. The PL was grateful and would celebrate on the sister island on Sunday, Dr Muscat said.
GOVERNMENT TO STAY GROUNDED
Dr Muscat said the government would remain grounded and would continue to listen to the people. It had made mistakes and corrected them and it would not ignore anyone.
It was significant, he said, that the small percentage of votes which Labour had lost had not gone to the PN. Instead people stayed at home or voted to the smaller parties.
Labour would study the messages here, notably immigration.
PN 'HAS NO MESSAGE'
Dr Muscat said the PN had shown that it had no message in the electoral campaign. The PN should realise, he said, that the negativity it had shown in the past year was 'not on'.
That an opposition party had lost so heavily a year into the legislature was a very strong message from the people.
Replying to other questions, Dr Muscat said a turning point was reached last year when the number of people seeking work was lower than in the last month of the PN.