Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday warned hunters this would be their “last chance”, after they secured a “slim but clear” majority to keep their spring hunting practice.

“I was the Prime Minister who closed the last hunting season, prompting fierce protests from hunters, and I am ready to do the same if there is flagrant abuse of hunting laws,” Dr Muscat said.

The onus would from now on be on hunters themselves to come forward and report any breaches of the law, rather than leave enforcement completely in the hands of the police, he added.

The Prime Minister sounded the warning at a news conference in Castille shortly after the official referendum result was announced.

The result took many by surprise, as opinion polls had consistently given the anti-hunting lobby a significant lead of a few percentage points.

At the start of the campaign, the Prime Minister and Opposition leader expressed their personal opinion in favour of the status quo and repeatedly promised no political party involvement in the campaign.

Nevertheless, this newspaper on Saturday received numerous reports that Labour street leaders were phoning voters and urging them to vote Yes to spring hunting “in line with Dr Muscat’s wish”.

However, the Prime Minister yesterday strenuously denied any involvement of the Labour Party in the pro-hunting campaign, saying this was “absolutely not the case”. Labour had focused exclusively on the local council campaign.

“I also heard rumours that the PN was instructing its supporters to vote No to embarrass me, but no such thing resulted to me,” he said.

Asked if his personal opinion and that of the PN leader had influenced voters, Dr Muscat said that had he openly campaigned in favour of the hunting lobby, the result would have been more pronounced for the Yes camp.

The black dividing line shows how the Yes and No majorities in the referendum panned out across the electoral districts along traditional party lines.

The Prime Minister welcomed the high turnout of 75 per cent. He said the scenario had now changed completely and law-abiding hunters could no longer justify their reluctance to report the “minority of poachers and criminals” by passing the buck to the police.

“The result shows that for law-abiding hunters this was a very close shave and it could have cost them dearly.”

As a result the authorities would expect “full collaboration” from hunters or else they would risk further punishment.

On the other hand, Malta was not about to turn into a police state by having an excessive number of police officers roaming the countryside.

It was only a slim majority that had voted in favour of controlled spring hunting, Dr Muscat noted. The other half had sent a message to the government that the environment must be placed higher up on its agenda.

“This is a clear message which I have taken note of.”

However, the independent media, which had openly declared its support for the No camp, also needed to take note of the message conveyed by the people, as they ended up on the losing side, he said.

He called for more open dialogue between hunters and environmentalists, saying they must not fall victim to extremist factions that resulted in “Punch and Judy” politics.

Turning his attention to the local council elections, held in 34 localities, he said the decision to postpone the counting process to next Saturday had been taken by the Electoral Commission for logistical reasons.

It would not be feasible to hold the counting process on a week day, as the vast majority of party agents would not be able to supervise the process due to work commitments.