The Malta Labour Party in the early hours of
Tuesday effectively won a majority of seats in Parliament, 34, against
the 31 of the Nationalist Party. Alternattiva Demokratika did not win a
single seat, paving the way for the PN to govern with a thin relative
majority of votes and a minority of Parliamentary seats.
The MLP managed to win back the fourth seat in
the 2nd district, a traditional Labour stronghold, which means it has
taken back the seat that it has lost to the PN in the last two general
elections.
The MLP has also won a seat on the 1st, 7th
district and 10th district from the PN. The seats in the 1st and 2nd
district were obtained with few tens of votes more than the PN
candidate fighting for the same seat.
In the 2003 general election, the PN got 35 seats and the MLP 30
seats but the electoral boundaries were re-drawn and approved last
year.
Although the MLP has obtained a majority of seats this is not enough
to govern the country according the recently-amended Constitution,
which will give the PN the extra four seats its needs for a one-seat
majority in Parliament like in 1987 and 1996.
This means the general elections would have produced yet another
intriguing result, after no party obtained the absolute majority of
first count votes.
If a third party had obtained a seat in Parliament in this election
than the party with most seats, the MLP, would have been entrusted with
governing the country.
The official result, presented by the Chief Electoral Commissioner
Edward Gatt to the President of Malta Edward Fenech Adami on Monday
morning, sees the Nationalist Party winning a relative majority of
votes, 49.34%, just 0.55% or 1580 votes more than the MLP which
obtained 48.79%.
