Labour’s majority has ‘shrunk’ to 42,000… and Lowell wins the ‘third party’ battle

1. Labour’s majority is of 42,656 votes – not 51,500 as originally reported.

Labour got 141,267 votes (54.29%), while the PN got 98,611 votes (37.9%).
As expected, Labour MEPs Miriam Dalli (63,438) and Alfred Sant (26.592) are re-elected, together with candidates Alex Agius Saliba (18,808) and Josianne Cutajar (15,603).

Incumbents Roberta Metsola (PN) obtained 38,206 first count votes and David Casa obtained 20,493 first count votes.

Norman Lowell

2. Far-right firebrand and Nazi apologist Norman Lowell improved his vote count over 2014 by obtaining 9,693 final vote count 

Claims of being Malta's 'third party' are exaggerated in a European election, but yes, the far-right has taken the non-mainstream vote at the expense of other smaller parties.

He started off with 8,335 votes. After Lowell was eliminated, of these votes 6,151 were non-transferable, indicating that some two-thirds of his total vote was for him alone. The rest fell on the last remaining PN and PL candidates. Chew on that, voters.

Camilla Appelgren

3. Cami impresses with over 3,000 first count votes

The other news is the surprise showing by Cami Appelgren, the Swedish ‘clean-up’ activist who joined Partit Demokratiku, and who broke ranks with PD leader Godfrey Farrugia’s conservatism with her pro choice stand on abortion. She polled an impressive 3,052 first-count votes: so Appelgren’s visibility on Facbeook as the face of national clean-campaigns worked – the data proves as much, because PD MP and leader Godfrey Farrugia (former Labour whip who ran with the PN’s Forza Nazzjonali coalition) ‘only’ got 1,668 (unimpressive).

She ended with 5,154 votes. Well done, Cami!

Soul-searching: Carmel Cacopardo

4. Major disappointment for Alternattiva Demokratika

AD leader Carmel Cacopardo obtained just 1,021 votes and Mina Tolu got 845, with a final vote count of 1,689 and 929 votes.

Former AD chairperson Arnold Cassola, who broke away from AD over a tiff on abortion, polled 2,217 votes, and ended up with 2,858. 

Combined, this ‘green vote’ would have been at least 4,000 votes… and together with PD, would have been at least 8,000…. Perhaps good enough to counter the far-right surge: a lesson on ideological vanity and petty tiffs on issues!

Independent candidate Arnold Cassola (left) and AD candidate Mina Tolu