The Labour Party deputy leader for party affairs, Michael Falzon, has become the first new candidate to the elected to Parliament.

He was elected this afternoon on the 10th count from the second district, and a few hours later compounded his success with election from the 10th district.

A lawyer by profession, Dr Falzon has been deputy leader of the MLP since 2003 but was involved in the party organisation well before that, heading the party's election office. Early on Sunday he had the dubious honour of conceding the election to the Nationalist Party, but he won all round praise for the way he handled the situation in the counting hall as tension mounted.

Dr Falzon won 3,047 first count votes on the second district and 2,852 on the tenth.

Elected with Mr Falzon on the second district this afternoon was Joe Mizzi, the fiery former minister without portfolio, who was the whip of the Labour parliamentary group in the last administration. He won 2,661 first count votes, a drop of about 200 first count votes from the last election.