Update 10.32pm - Added video
Chris Cardona and Owen Bonnici will face off in a second round vote tomorrow to determine who will be the Labour Party's next deputy leader, after Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi was eliminated in a vote this evening.
Dr Azzopardi was eliminated after finishing third in the vote, with his 213 votes falling just shy of Dr Bonnici’s 224. Dr Cardona won over the most delegates, with his 310 votes making him the favourite for tomorrow’s second round.
Candidates needed to obtain 375 votes – 50 per cent plus one of the 747 valid votes cast - to win the election without forcing a second vote. 752 of the party's 763 delegates voted in today's election - a turnout of 98.56 per cent.
The election is being coordinated by the party’s electoral commission chief, Stanley Mifsud, and the district secretaries.
While Dr Cardona and Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi were at the PL's Mile End headquarters to watch the voting process in person, Dr Bonnici opted to stay away. He subsequently showed up after results had been announced.
The candidates
Dr Cardona, 44, is a lawyer by profession and has been an MP for five legislatures, having been first elected in 1996.
This was the second time he contested the PL's deputy leadership, having first thrown his hat in the ring back in 2008 - albeit for the post of deputy leader for parliamentary, not party affairs. He lost that race to Anglu Farrugia, who now serves as Speaker of the House.
While in Opposition during the previous legislature, Dr Cardona served as spokesman for industry and the self-employed. Prior to that, he had served as Opposition spokesman for competition, communication and IT.
He is currently the Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business.
Dr Bonnici, 35, was first elected to parliament in 2008. He spent the previous legislature as Opposition spokesman for youth and culture and subsequently as its spokesman for higher education, university and research.
He was made parliamentary secretary for justice at the start of this legislature. His office was moved into the Prime Minister's Office after 100 days in office, and 13 months later he was promoted to Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government.
Like Dr Cardona and Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi, he is a lawyer by profession.
Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi is, like fellow contenders Dr Cardona and Dr Bonnici, a lawyer.
He has long been active within the Labour Party and served as party president for the decade between 2003 and 2013. Following the PL's 2013 electoral victory, he was made chairman of the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation.
Whoever wins the election will be the third deputy leader the Labour Party has had in the past four months, after Toni Abela and Konrad Mizzi.
Dr Abela announced that he would step aside in late January after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat nominated him to sit on the European Court of Auditors.
His resignation paved the way for Konrad Mizzi to be made deputy leader - something he duly did in February after running uncontested.
But Dr Abela's failure to pass muster with the European Court of Auditors, coupled with growing disquiet over Dr Mizzi's involvement in the Panama Papers scandal left the PL in a muddle for a few weeks.
Dr Abela ultimately resigned the deputy leadership in late March. But within a month, his replacement Dr Mizzi was also gone, having been made to resign the post in an attempt to assuage public anger over his secret Panama company.