Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/492208
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL 2015 5 LABOUR will be defending a 17- point majorit y achieved in 2012 in the 34 localities in which elections are being held this Saturday. The 2012 round of local elec- tions coincided with a period of political instabilit y following Franco Debono's abstention in a vote of no-confidence presented by the opposition in January that year and were held a year before the PN was trounced by a 12-point margin in national elections. On that occasion the PL won a majorit y in 19 out of the 34 coun- cils where elections are due now. Moreover Labour has a majorit y of over 60% in 15 of these locali- ties. The PN has a majorit y of over 60% in eight localities. Prior to 2012 local elections in the same 34 localities were held in 2007 and 2008. In this round of elections the PL had won a 52% majorit y. The 2008 round of local elections coincided with the PN's wafer thin majorit y in the concur- rent general election. Among the 35 localities in which elections will take place this week, Mosta, Gzira, Qala, Safi, St Paul 's Bay and Xaghra (Gozo) were the only ones to have ever changed their majorit y since 1999, when Labour started contesting local elections as a part y. Safi, St Paul 's Bay and Qala changed their majorit y in the 2012 election while traditionally PN- leaning Mosta was won by the PL in 2007 and regained by the PN in 2013. The battle for Mosta and St Paul's Bay Mosta and St Paul 's Bay are the two largest localities in this round of election. St Paul 's Bay was lost for the first time by the PN in 2012 while Mosta was recovered by the PN thanks to vote transfers after the PL won 14 more first count votes than the PN. In the four contests before 2007 the PN had won the Mosta elec- tion with majorities varying from 62% in 1998 to just 51% in 2004. But following a focused media campaign directed against a con- troversial contract for the serv- ices of a handyman, Labour man- aged to snatch the Mosta prize in 2007 with a wafer thin one-seat majorit y after winning 50.6%. In that election the PN saw its sup- port in Mosta fall to a historic low of 46%. But following the election of new mayor Paul Chetcuti Caruana, the council was brought to a paraly- sis due to factional infighting within the Labour camp. The PN media has taken full advantage of this situation, highlighting the failures of the Mosta council and transforming it into its main battleground in the 2012 round. The PL reacted by presenting a new team of councillors and ditching its former mayor. The PL ended up winning 14 first count votes more than the PN but vote transfers following the elimination of the AD can- didate favoured the PN which snatched a one seat majorit y. In 2012 Labour had managed to snatch Saint Paul 's Bay – a solid Nationalist-led localit y where the part y enjoyed a not in- surmountable majorit y of 54% in the previous council election. The Labour media had focused on the poor state of the roads and targeted mayor Graziella Galea (daughter of former Min- ister Censu Galea) for a number of shortcomings in the localit y, particularly in the Bugibba area. The PL ended up winning that election with 53% of the vote. The PN saw its vote count crash from 4,364 to 2,505 while Labour increased its vote from 3,019 to 3,138. The drop in the PN's vote is largely attributed to a massive de- cline in turnout, from 67% in 2008 to just 35.3% in 2012. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt News Labour defending 17-point majority PL starts from 57.3% majority in 2012 while PN starts elections from 40.7% in same round of elections 2012 local election result* Number of votes % PN 42,630 40.7 PL 60,052 57.3 AD 1,312 1.3 Others 724 0.7 * Number of votes is based on 34 councils where elections took place in 2012 and are taking place this Saturday – in 2012 elections were held in 35 councils, including Sliema council, which had been dissolved. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD I refer to an article published in the newspaper MaltaToday dated the 18th March 2012, which article was part of a se- ries written by journalist Bianca Caruana entitled 'Talk of Town'. In this article the journalist re- peated a comment by a Safi resi- dent by the name of Sonia Vella that former Mayor Peter Paul Busuttil "had almost verged on stalking behavior by allegedly taunting Callus's wife and son, while making anonymous phone calls". Peter Paul Busuttil instituted libel proceedings about this al- legation and stated that he had previously requested a Malta- Today journalist to correct and withdraw this false statement. The editor, Saviour Balzan de- clares that this request was nev- er relayed to him and he unre- servedly apologized for this. Saviour Balzan declares that the allegation by Safi resident Sonia Vella was false and based on an untruth and knows Mr Busuttil as an upright man. In view of this declaration, Mr Busuttil is withdrawing the libel proceedings. Declaration In the 2012 round of local elections, Labour won a majority in 19 of the 34 councils where elections are being held now PL leader Joseph Muscat addressing a campaign activity