Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/319158
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 28 MAY 2014 News 4 ? ? Labour gets bigger in Gozo JAMES DEBONO LABOUR has increased its share of the vote in Gozo by 0.4% over the last general elections in 2013, and by 1.4% over the 2009 MEP elec- tions. This is a clear indication that Labour has consolidated its gains in the sister island where the party won a majority of seats in last year's general election, despite failing to win a majority of votes. In this election, the PL wins a larger relative majority than that achieved in 2009. While in 2009, Labour's share of the vote in Gozo amounted to 48%, it now amounts to 49.4%. In 2013 La- bour's share amounted to 49.1% against the PN's 50%. On the other hand, the PN sees its voting share decline by five points over last year and by 2 points over 2009. Gozo was the only locality to register an increase in turnout compared to 2009. But while this increase in turnout yielded 1,054 extra votes for the PL, the PN on- ly increased its support by 322. In Gozo, Labour also retains more of its general votes than the PN. While the PN loses 2,900 votes, the PL loses 1,809 votes. Both parties lost votes because of the decrease in turnout. This means that while the PL has lost 15% of its 2013 voters, the PN has lost 23% of its 2013 voters. Gozo is also the district where the PL lost least votes, just 15% compared to 23% in the eight and ninth districts where Labour lost most votes. Moreover compared to similar elections in 2009, the PL increased its voters by 11% while the PN in- creased its voters by less than 4%. Labour holds in the south The survey also shows that the decision to locate the LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk harbour has had lit- tle impact on the electorate. In fact, in the fifth district of Marsaxlokk and Birzebbugia, the PN lost 2.1 points while Labour lost 1.7 points over the 2013 general election figures. Both AD and Im- perium Europa register an increase in support in a district where both immigration and the environment are primary concerns. Compared to the general election the PL lost 3,176 voters (20% of its total in 2013) while the PN lost 1,917 voters (25% of its total in 2013). The only positive news for the PN is that compared to 2009, it gains 248 votes in this southern district. On the other hand, the PL gained only 39 votes. This suggests that the power station issue simply served to mobilise a greater share of PN vot- ers than in 2009. But despite a small increase in turnout among PN voters, it is small parties which gain most from the PL's 2-point drop from 2009 levels. Labour seems to have faced great- er disgruntlement in the second district, which includes Cottonera. Compared to 2009, the Labour Party has seen its vote tally in the second district decrease by 711 votes compared to an 18-vote de- crease for the PN. Labour also saw a decrease of 630 voters in the third district. The second district was the only one where the PN minimally in- creased its vote share over 2009 fig- ures. But in the neighbouring third district this time around, the PN loses 633 votes from its 2009 tally. In a clear indication that the PN still lags behind in the southern districts, the first seven southern districts show that the PN has lost a greater share of its 2013 voters than the PL. This suggests that the PN still faces difficulties in these southern localities despite its attempt to exploit disgrun- tlement related to the new LNG The Nationalists are still losing in the south despite the first signs of disgruntlement among southern Labourites, especially in second district where Labour has registered losses since 2009. And in the fifth district, where the PN focused its LNG tanker campaign, little impact was registered there… Clint Camilleri The MEPs ALFRED SANT was – as predicted – elected on the first count. He served as Prime Minister from 1996 until 1998, when Dom Mintoff dragged him down by vot- ing against him in parliament. He will be remem- bered for freezing Malta's applica- tion as an aspir- ing European Un- ion member and replacing VAT with a new taxation system known as CET. An eccentric academic known for his unemotional but spirited debates. He promises to be an effective parliamentarian in the European parliament. ROBERTA METSOLA, respected former MEP who was elected by a bi-election after Simon Busuttil's de- cision to take the mantle of deputy leader. Roberta Metsola is the first Nationalist candidate elected in these elections, reaching the quota on the 16th count. The 35-year-old was first elected last year in the casual elections, replac- ing Simon Busut- til. A lawyer by profession, she specialized in EU law and politics and served as Malta's Le- gal and Judicial Cooperation Attaché within the Permanent Representa- tion of Malta to the European Union from 2004 to 2012, before moving to become legal advisor to the High Rep- resentative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Caption: Dalli, the darling of the La- bour voter MIRIAM DALLI, former presenter on One TV. Her charisma and good looks endeared her to many Labour- ites, but she was also seen as the fa- vourite candidate for Joseph Muscat. She is also seen as non-controversial figure, though strongly support- ing the Muscat line. In Brussels she will be in good company: her father-in-law Karmenu Vella – until recently Muscat's Tour- ism Minister – has been nominated to replace Tonio Borg as Malta's choice for Commissioner. DAVID CASA is the second PN can- didate. A former aide to the late Guido de Marco, Casa attained a reputation as rabble-leader, s p e a r h e a d i n g the Yes for Eu- rope movement. He then turned his eyes on the European parlia- mentary elections and has spent two decades in Brussels. Even though he appears to keep a rather low profile in the parliament, he is still very popular with PN diehards who respond to his 'anti-Labour' discourse. MARLENE MIZZI is also a former MEP, having been elected after the de- parture of Edward Scicluna and Louis Grech. Mizzi, an entrepreneur by pro- fession, served as Bank of Valletta director and Sea Malta chairman under the Nation- alist administra- tion. She fell out of favour with the former adminis- tration and openly started to support the Labour. Married to Justice Anto- nio Mizzi, she strikes a chord among middle of the road Labourite voters. At the Naxxar counting hall yesterday...