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The PN Has Lost Valletta Local Council – Labour Party Holds Onto Pembroke Despite 50% Drop In Turnout

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The Nationalist Party has lost Valletta, a traditional PN local council, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has revealed.

Writing on twitter, Muscat said that he was “so proud that the Labour Party will for the first time ever lead the local council of our capital city Valletta”.

Labour won four seats to the PN’s three. Alfred Zammit will be the PL Mayor of Valletta. The remain candidates are Ray Azzopardi, Lian Pace and Jurgen Briffa (PL); and Christian Micallef, Mark Spiteri Lucas, and Vincent Fabri (PN).

The turnout in Valletta was 63.84% – down from 83.2% in 2013.

The Labour Party has kept hold of the Pembroke local council despite a massive 50% drop in turnout, winning 60% of the vote. Dean Hili will stay on as Mayor of the locality.

There were questions over the locality given the over-development issues facing the area.

The Mqabba, Ta’ Xbiex, and Dingli local councils have also been declared to have maintained their Labour majority.

Nationalist Party has won Għasri so far, but is facing stiff challenges in the St Julian’s and the St Paul’s Bay local councils, all of which have been traditionally PN.

While not necessarily as hyped as the MEP elections, the loss of key localities will certainly put pressure on embattled PN Leader Adrian Delia.

According to the electoral commission’s approximations, around 60.4% of registered voters turned up to vote in the local council elections, down from the 67.6% recorded in 2015.

St Paul’s Bay (31.7%) and St Julian’s (33.9%) recorded two of the lowest turnouts. However, this is common in the areas which have large foreign populations. In fact, there are more foreign voters than Maltese in both localities.

Localities under intense scrutiny today include Nadur, St Paul’s Bay, Mellieha and St Julian’s.

Tonight sees the counting of Group A of three, which includes the following localities:

Birzebbuġa, Għajnsielem, Dingli, Balzan, Tarxien, Żebbuġ, Valletta, Fontana, Marsa, Mellieħa, Qrendi, Nadur, Xewkija, Żejtun, Żurrieq, Għasri, Iklin, Mqabba, Pembroke, St Julian’s, St Paul’s Bay, Santa Venera and Ta’ Xbiex

READ NEXT: First Elected Mayor Is PN’s Daniel Attard For Għasri As Initial Samples Suggest ‘Neck-And-Neck Battles’ In Valletta And St. Julian’s

Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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