Labour wins B’Kara, Mellieha and Mtarfa councils

The swing in favour of Labour, clearly shown in Saturday's historic victory in the general election, was also reflected in the local council elections held on the same day. Not only did Labour increase its share of the vote from 54.5% to 56.7%, but it also managed to win the majority of votes and seats in six localities, previously held b y the PN.

The most notable Labour victory was the one in B'Kara which since the creation of local councils has always been controlled by a PN majority, with former PN leader and Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami's younger son Michael being mayor for two terms.

Fenech Adami will now be replaced by Joanne Debono Grech, daughter of former Labour MP Joe Debono Grech.

In Mellieha, Labour retained the slight lead in terms of votes it had obtained in 2008, however managed to win the majority of seats after missing out for a handful of votes in the previous round.   Other localities which changed hands are Pieta, Mtarfa, Santa Venera and Mqabba.  

Labour won the absolute majority in 23 localities, while the PN held on to nine3 localities and Mdina where no election was held since only five candidates contested for the five available seats.

The PN which was bracing itself for another drubbing, held on to its share, registering 42.3% of the vote, compared to the 44.1% garnered in the previous local elections. 

Meanwhile, Alternattiva Demokratika averaged 0.4% of the vote over all localities and 4.6% in the three localities it contested. The Green Party Chairperson Michael Briguglio maintained his seat on the Sliema council but the other two candidates who contested Marsascala and Santa Venera did not make it.

Independent candidates averaged 0.6% of the vote, with the most notable performance being that of Giovanni Gatt in Mgarr who despite winning 9.1% of the vote, missed out on a seat in the hamlet's council.

Candidates who earn the highest number of votes among the party which elects most seats is elected mayor and since the election result was very close in Mtarfa, Mellieha and Birkirkara, the outcome was only known when the vote process came to an end on Sunday morning.

The counting process in B'Kara is still ongoing with the names of the last three PN councillors out of six yet to be known.  

Other localities where the outcome of the distribution of seatswas  too close to call included Msida, Valletta and San Gwann, but the final counts confirmed the previous results, with Labour holding on Msida and the PN maintaining Valletta and San Gwann.

Following the debacle involving the Gozo and B'Kara districts in the general election, which were subject to a request filed by the PN to have a recount in both districts, eventually turned down by the Constitutional court, the local councils counting proce3ss was characterised by a number of recounts.

The counting process was hampered by a number of requests for recounts in the localities which were too close to call such as Mtarfa, where Labour only enjoyed a five-vote majority in the first count. This slowed down the whole process, with candidates and party agents pleading their own party officials to refrain from calling for more recounts.