The final result of Malta’s fourth European elections confirms a landslide victory for the Labour Party of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with an absolute majority of 55.9 percent; around 50,000 votes more than the Nationalist Party led by Adrian Delia.
This result guarantees four seats for the Labour Party in the European Parliament while the Nationalist Opposition has lost one seat as predicted in the latest opinion polls published before Saturday’s election. As the smallest member nation of the European Union, Malta is allocated six Euro-parliamentarians. Miriam Dalli, Alfred Sant, Josianne Cutajar and Alex Agius Saliba were elected for the Labour Party. It is the first time for Cutajar and Agius Saliba to be elected. Roberta Metsola and David Casa secured their parliamentary seats for the Nationalist Party.
The small parties mainly of far-right ideology registered an impressive support in these elections with 8 percent of the vote. Migration was high on the national agenda during the electoral campaign.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat addressed a large crowd of party supporters gathered in front of the Labour Party Headquarters in Hamrun. He said that this is the moment for national unity. While congratulating the four Labour MEPs, he also appealed to the two elected Nationalist Euro-parliamentarians to be ready to work hard together in favour of Malta and Europe.
The Maltese Prime Minister said that this electoral result, the largest in the country’s political history, casts a much greater responsibility on his government and to remain close to the people.
In a televised addressed on the Nationalist Party station, the Leader of the Opposition accepted the defeat and made it clear that he has no intention of resigning. Adrian Delia made it clear that his target is the 2022 general election. He said that the party will continue to work hard to understand and explore ways why this happened. “We want to be better than ever, we want to see more new faces of people who believe in our vision,” stressed Delia. He concluded by saying that the process has already started and the Nationalist Party can never lose heart.
(ITALPRESS/MNA)
