Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/497863
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 APRIL 2015 4 News Muscat toasts 'historic' victory, refutes correlation with hunting vote DANIEL MIZZI LABOUR leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday that the party's major- ity of almost 54% of the local elec- tions vote was a 'historic' victory, as the PL became the first ruling party to win a council election. Addressing a press conference at the Auberge de Castille, Muscat ar- gued that Labour's successive wins in the general elections, the MEP elections, as well as the local elec- tions, suggested a "national trend" in Labour's favour. He said that in spite of its victory, Labour would remain with its firmly feet on the ground and that it would not "become arrogant". But he said the increase in PN votes in certain localities, as well as those who opted not to vote, would not be ignored. Asked to what he would attribute Labour's loss in votes in the fifth district – which includes traditional Labour strongholds such as Marsax- lokk and Birzebbugia – the Prime Minister acknowledged that the Opposition's criticism of Labour's energy plan had influenced voters. However, Muscat explained that the argument was two-pronged: on the one hand there were those who voted for the Labour Party because they wanted the power station to be converted to gas, while others chose not to vote because they felt "disen- franchised from the majority". "I will take these points into ac- count, but we are not seeing any noteworthy changes when this re- sult is compared with that of the general election and the MEP elec- tions," he said. Moreover, asked whether the par- ty's result in Gozo, most notably its increase in voting in Ghajnsielem, Xaghra, Qala, and Munxar, was re- lated to the turnout in the hunting referendum, Muscat refuted sugges- tions that it is the result of the strong vote in favour of spring hunting. Conversely, he said that the result was not a surprise, and that any cor- relation between the local councils victory and the spring hunting ref- erendum would be "superfluous" and "surreal". "The spring hunting referendum and the result of the local councils elections are two distinct issues," he said. He did however acknowledge that the referendum encouraged more people to use their ballot, underlin- ing that the result in Gozo reflected the shift that had occurred in the general elections. Taking a swipe at PN leader Si- mon Busuttil, Muscat explained that even though the PN recorded more votes than in the 2012 local elections, it was "extreme" for the party to be celebrating a loss. "I understand that Simon Busuttil is afraid of losing his position, so he must celebrate even a defeat. This shows that it is a time of extremes, but as long as he is happy, then eve- ryone is," he quipped. The PN recorded a higher vote than in the 2012 local elections – when the same local councils were voted for – but Muscat compared yesterday's result with the votes garnered by the Labour Party dur- ing the 2013 general election and the 2014 MEP elections. "Even though we are in the middle of the legislature, the majority of the country voted for the Labour Party. The result is nearly identical to that recorded in the general election and MEP elections. Once again, the country has chosen optimism over negativity," he said. "To put things into perspective, when the PN was in government, it only managed to win the local elec- tions in 2000 when it had achieved 49% of the vote. The PN's best re- sult of the local elections was in 1998 when it garnered 53% of the vote. This year, 54% of the country voted for the Labour Party." Saying Labour was "satisfied" with the result, Muscat insisted that the government would take Labour's victory in its stride in order to convert it into more jobs and opti- mism.