Updated: Labour hangs on to Gozo seat majority in photo finish

The Labour Party has just about held onto the majority of seats in the Gozo district by a wafer-thin margin.

Labour delegates started cheering at 6:45pm after all votes for the 13th district had been scanned by Electoral Commission officials, chanting that Gozo had remained “theirs.”

While the margin is thus far unofficial, it is understood to be extremely close – close enough that the PN sought a recount.  This recount, however, did not change the result.

Sources told The Malta Independent that the PN actually obtained more first count votes in the bellwether district than the PL did, but then subsequently lost the vote on inheritance.

Party projections had the PN in the lead in the district for most of the day, and the same sources said that the PN won the district by close to 200 votes – but then subsequently lost the final parliamentary seat by just 4 votes.

It is understood that there was a chunk of voters who gave their first preference to PN leader Alex Borg, before then reverting to voting for PL candidates.

Clint Camilleri, who was Gozo Minister in the last legislature, was the PL’s most popular candidate, followed by Anton Refalo and Jo Etienne Abela.

PN leader Alex Borg dominated the district in terms of vote count, and new candidate Beppe Galea nabbed the second seat for the party.  Frank Anthony Tabone has also performed well and made it to Parliament via the Constitutional Proportionality Mechanism.

It is a repeat of the 2013 general election, where the PN won the popular vote in the district by 240 votes but then lost the final seat in Parliament by just 9 votes.

 

RSS Feed Source: Independent Malta Updated: Labour hangs on to Gozo seat majority in photo finish