In the Press: Labour party wins local council elections by 54%, Opposition narrows the gap by half

Stories from today's national press

Malta Today

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil survives in Labour party’s 54% win at local council elections. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is the first prime minister to win local elections thanks to a Labour vote tsunami in Gozo yesterday. The win is 8.9% lower the 2012 17-point margin,  but aside from Gozo, some Labour leaning southern localities appear to have cut Muscat down to size. Nationalist supports celebrate that the party is ‘back in business’ as it managed to significantly narrow the divide.

Illum

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat secures local council elections win thanks to string vote in Gozo. The 53.5% labour majority was registered thanks to strong votes in Gozo and the gap between the parties fell to 8.5%. Voter turnout is seen as a consequence of the spring hunting referendum, and possibly even the discovery of former minister Giovanna Debono’s husband alleged scandal around ‘work for votes’. Muscat emphasizes the ‘historic win’ given that the party in government still obtained a majority.

The Sunday Times of Malta

The Labout party manages to retain its majority in local council elections, but the Nationalist party is content about halving the gap. The Nationalist party gained votes across the board except for Gozo. Local council elections in 34 localities yield 53.5% of votes to the labour party, 44.6% for the nationalist party and 2% for AD and independent candidates.

The Malta Independent

Both parties celebrate the local council election results, with PN showing its first signs of recovery. Although the labour party won the majority of votes, the nationalist party has seen its share of votes increase compared to 2012, the last time local council elections took place, where Labour had won 57.3% and PN had won just 40.7%. This time round, however, Labour won just under 54% and PN secured 43.9& of votes.

Il-Mument

The Nationalist Party halves the gap from the last elections in 2012, where the gap was of 17%, whereas in 2015, the gap dropped to below 9%. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil stresses that the PN is now ‘back in business’ and that Muscat is no longer ‘invincible’.

It-Torca

Labour party celebrates ‘historic win’ with a result of 54% of votes in its favour. The result is similar to the general elections and European Parliament elections. The localities of Floriana and Munxar have fallen into the Labour leadership for the first time ever.