Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1124848
NEWS YANNICK PACE PRIME Minister Joseph Mus- cat has warned those elected to represent the party not to let the party's unprecedented re- sult go to their heads, insisting that contact with people should remain a priority. Muscat was addressing a po- litical activity in Nadur, the day after the party registered yet another electoral victory, beating the Nationalist Party by 47,000 votes and winning lead- ership of a number of tradition- ally PN localities. "People vote according to the way they feel. Take Nadur – and this is why I believe we always need to speak to peo- ple and never take them for granted – in Nadur we have a substantial amount of people who voted for the Nationalist Party in the local council elec- tions, because they wanted a Nationalist local council and those same people voted for Josianne in the MEP election," Muscat said. The same locality, he said, had produced two different results in two simultaneously held elections. "The lesson is that everyone votes according to what their hearts and minds tell them and so we must remain close to the people," Muscat said. "We can't let this result go to our heads… this result places the biggest responsibility in history on us, and I for one, am prepared to carry it." Muscat thanked the Gozi- tan electorate for delivering a positive result for the Labour Party, which consolidated its dominance in a number of lo- calities. The result, he said, placed an enormous responsibility on the Labour Party. Muscat noted that PL had increased it councillors by 15 and had also won control of five new local councils, bring- ing the total number of locali- ties administered by the party up to 47. "Practically 70% of all local councils in the country, and even more so in terms of ter- ritory now have a Labour ma- jority and I thank you for this," he told those present. "I must comment about the symbolic value of these elec- tions where for the first time we won a majority in the capi- tal city, Valletta," Muscat said. He added that those who knew the demographics of Malta knew how difficult it was for the party to have won Siggiewi for the first time, al- lowing Labour to now claim the entire south of Malta as its own. Muscat also expressed his satisfaction at the Labour Party winning hard-fought lo- calities like St Paul's Bay and Mosta, as well as localities that the party kept like Mellieha, Mqabba and Birkirkara. Muscat said he was also happy at the success reg- istered by youths who had contested the election. He said that 98 youths were elected, meaning that 36% of Labour party candidates were youths. Women, he said, had also done well in the latest round of elections. 78 women were elected, he said, making up 27% of the Labour Party's new councillors. "We must do what we have proposed. We now have a reputation of doing what we promise, and we must ensure that this becomes the repu- tation of every Labour local council." maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JUNE 2019 Ahead of victory rally, Muscat warns against hubris following historic wins