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2 MEP ELECTION 2024 maltatoday | MONDAY • 10 JUNE 2024 2 KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Labour wins but loses absolute majority in worst ever European election result PL beats PN by 8,454 votes • PN wins third seat • Metsola breaks vote record • Cassola obtains 13,000 votes • ADPD crushed FORGET the scenes of jubila- tion inside the counting hall and in front of Labour headquarters in Hamrun witnessed on Sunday afternoon. The Labour Party has posted its worst electoral result ever in a European election, albeit beating the Nationalist Party by 8,454 votes. The victory is a pyrrhic one since for the first time since 2009 the PL has not only lost its supermajority but even its abso- lute majority in the country. The PL elected three MEPs, one less than five years ago, with the PN winning three seats thus ensuring Bernard Grech's sur- vival as leader. Compared to the 2019 re- sult, the PL lost nine points as it crashed from 54.3% to 45.3%. The PN gained four points from a dismal 37.9% in 2019 to 42% in this year's election. Independent candidates and third parties col- lectively saw their share of the vote increase by five points from 7.8% to 12.7%. The result points to a Labour meltdown, which few were ex- pecting and which all surveys did not predict. The movement of 'moderates and progressives' that started coalescing around the PL when Joseph Muscat be- came leader in 2008 appears to be unravelling. Prime Minister Robert Abela tried to put up a bold face yes- terday, saying that the electorate had delivered a message and he would redouble his govern- ment's efforts to respond to the message by being more sensitive to people's needs. In a dig to the PN, Abela said it was "celebrat- ing a defeat". PN leader Bernard Grech was more joyed by the result which saw the party claw back a mas- sive gap and win its third seat. He said voters had delivered a strong message to the gov- ernment and insisted the PN must remain with its feet to the ground. European Parliament President and Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola polled a record-break- ing 87,473 votes, beating the previous record of almost 68,000 votes held by Simon Busuttil. Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba was the PL's front runner poll- ing 63,899 votes. Independent candidate Arnold Cassola polled the third highest first preference votes with 12,706 votes. Far-right firebrand Norman Lowell polled 6,669 votes, close- ly followed by former Labour mayor Conrad Borg Manché with 5,936. ADPD leader Sandra Gau- ci polled just 2,162 first-count votes, followed by comedian James Ryder with 1,585 votes. The turnout for the election was of 72.9%, marginally high- er than five years ago. This also came as a surprise on the back of polling data that was suggesting a lower turnout. It appears that voters did go out and vote after all but did their own thing in the polling booth, delivering a muted victo- ry to Labour by slashing its su- permajority to a narrow, relative one. Malta's MEPs PL (S&D): Alex Agius Saliba, Daniel Attard, Thomas Bajada PN (EPP): Roberta Metsola, David Casa, Peter Agius First comments from Metsola and Agius Saliba After a celebration lap around the Counting Hall, Roberta Metsola thanked youths specifically for bringing out the vote, as well as party volunteers. MaltaToday asked her whether she feels this to be a show of trust in her as a politician, to have her come down and be more active locally, to which she responded that she makes no difference between local and European politics. "The Maltese have spoken – there has been a positive turnout for European and local elections. We are celebrating a democratic process that has worked and we can keep working on it," she said. Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba said the Labour Party is still the party of choice for the majority of the electorate, and the result has shown that. "But we must also read the message the people have given us, and act on it," he told media and supporters at the Naxxar Counting Hall on Sunday afternoon. "We must see what we could do better," he told journalists. "We still believe the Labour Party is the party of choice to lead Malta and represent it abroad." Asked whether the Vitals inquiry had any effect on the campaign, he said it definitely did, and would have liked to discuss a European vision for Malta, rather than discuss such issues. Big winners: Roberta Metsola (PN) and Alex Agius Saliba (PL) ADPD leader Sandra Gauci polled just 2,162 first-count votes

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