Malta’s six seats in the European Parliament remain under the control of the country’s political establishment
Three European Parliament seats each for Labour and PN
23:20 | Elected candidates confirmed
The Electoral Commission has officially confirmed the election of
Roberta Metsola (PN), Alex Agius Salina (PL), Peter Agius (PN), David Casa (PN), Daniel Attard (PL), Thomas Bajada (PL).
All results here. Good Night!
22:59 | Election Night
Live from Brussels
21:24 | Malta’s six MEPs are elected
PN: Roberta Metsola, David Casa, Peter Agius
PL: Alex Agius Saliba, Daniel Attard, Thomas Bajada
Please note that these are not official results, as the two major parties enjoy the questionable privilege to access counting data which is yet unknown to the public.
Official results are expected at 23:00.
21:10 | Uninformed with TVM
Tonight, viewers of PBS channels get to see Love Island (TVM) or Għawdex Illum (TVMnews+), but so far no further updates on the latest news from Counting Hall in Naxxar.
21:00 | Launch of the EU Election Night
Earlier today, at around 17:30, the European Parliament launched its EU Election Night in Brussels, which will provide first provisional results of the European elections starting at around 23:15. You can watch the launch event here.
20:45 | Three seats for the PN
– The first count has been concluded
– The PN has secured three seats
– Electoral Commission announces 2-hour break
The Nationalist Party has secured its third MEP seat, and PN supporters at Counting Hall have been celebrating the news in the usual embarrassing PLPN monkey-style choreography, cheering and banging on the perspex which separates them from the vote counters.
A third seat for the PN means that independent candidate Arnold Cassola is no longer in the race for Brussels.
The Electoral Commission has announced a 2-hour period for the parties to verify the results, as required by law.
Louis Gatt, Labour’s electoral chief, earlier (19:50) provided the following figures for first-count votes, which did not include votes cast in the early voting:
Roberta Metsola: 81,130
Alex Agius Saliba: 58,316
Arnold Cassola: 12,884
Daniel Attard: 10,634
Thomas Bajada: 9,601
Steve Ellul: 8,670
Peter Agius: 8,640
Claudette Abela Baldacchino: 8,284
20:15 | 93% counted
Around 22,000 votes cast in early voting sessions still need to be sorted, scanned and counted. Currently, 93% of all votes have been processed.
Once this process has been concluded, the electronic counting system should be able to calculate the final outcome of all the election’s counts within minutes.
However, no official result can be published before 23:00, when the last polling stations in Italy are scheduled to close.
20:00 | TVM with ‘zero updates’
Independent MEP candidate and comedian James Ryder criticised PBS for a lack of election updates on TVM.
19:15 | 90% of votes scanned
Times of Malta reports that the scanning process and the counting of first preferences has almost reached 90%. Meanwhile, Labour sources have told journalists they expect a lead of around 7,200 votes.
18:55 | Labour lead down to under 5,500?
Former PN MP Jason Azzopardi claims on Facebook that Labour’s lead over the Nationalist Party stands at around 5,473 votes.
MaltaToday earlier quoted PN sources presenting a similar ‘gap’ of around 5,800.
18:34 | 80% of votes scanned
Times of Malta reports that 80% of votes have been scanned and 79% have been verified.
The scanning process started at around 09:30 and has taken nine hours so far.
18:25 | Metsola leaving to Brussels
EP President Roberta Metsola is on her way to Brussels where she will be announcing the EP elections’ turnout across all member states after 23:15.
18:20 | Agius Saliba elected
Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba is the second candidate elected.
18:15 | Metsola elected
Roberta Metsola (PN) is guaranteed to exceed the quota and is therefore the first candidate elected in the 2024 MEP election.
18:10 | Labour lead down to 5,800?
MaltaToday reports that Nationalist sources are now indicating that Labour’s lead over the PN could have dipped to 5,800 votes.
The votes shares presented are 44.67% for the Labour Party and 42.52% for the Nationalist Party.
17:45 | Gauci to stay ADPD leader
ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci has confirmed she will stay on a leader of the green party.
PL and PN have nothing to celebrate, Gauci said.
The fact that 100,000 people opted not to vote, while thousands of others voted for independent candidates, showed that many people have lost faith in the two main parties, she said.
17:00 | PN wins Gozo
Party sources expect the PN to win Gozo, the 13th district, by anything between 800 and 1,000 votes. In the 2022 General Election, Labour won Gozo by a 2,500 vote margin.
16:50 | Mile End empty
Ħamrun’s Mile End area has become very quiet again, as most Labour supporters left the moment Robert Abela stopped speaking in front of the party’s headquarters. It feels a bit like in those apocalypse movies when people are being told to go home to their families.
16:40 | Metsola to secure two quotas
MaltaToday is reporting that Roberta Metsola “is on par to secure not only one quota but two”. This means there could be plenty of second-preference votes to inherit for Nationalist candidates like David Casa, or even third parties and independent candidates like Arnold Cassola.
16:00 | Electoral Commission ‘hardly fit for purpose’
Newsbook‘s Jurgen Balzan is not happy:
15:50 | Abela addresses supporters
“Your decision has sent us a message of trust, but also other messages which we have understood well”, Prime Minister Robert Abela told Labour supporters outside the party’s headquarters in Ħamrun.
“Others are celebrating a loss,” he said, alluding to the PN, adding that he was not here to celebrate a victory, “but to tell you I shall be responding to your message with humility”.
He said people wanted a better version of the Labour Party, and from tomorrow he would be rolling up his sleeves to deliver on this.
15:45 | Labour lead below 10,000?
MaltaToday reports that Labour’s lead “has continued to decrease as vote counting progresses. The latest figure that has come our way is a vote gap of around 9,000”. This would represent a massive decline in the fortunes of the Labour Party.
15:20 | Gap? What gap?
The Labour Party media still hasn’t announced its projected vote tally, blaming this on the fact that the scanning of ballots started more than 30 minutes late this morning. Sources of both major parties suggest that Labour’s lead over the PN has shrunk to less than 15,000 votes. However, in 2019 and 2022, Labour announced its projections within minutes of the commencement of the scanning process.
15:05 | Robert Abela to address supporters
Prime Minister Robert Abela is expected to soon address Labour supporters in front of the party’s headquarters at Mile End in Ħamrun.
Unlike in previous elections, it is obvious that fewer supporters made their way to the party’s headquarters today, as road traffic in the area has not been affected at all. The traffic situation at Blata L-Bajda and in St Joseph High Street remains calm.
14:58 | Analyst: Three seats for PN
Political analyst Martin Bugelli said the indications are that the PN will win three seats, and that Roberta Metsola, David Casa and Peter Agius will be elected.
14:30 | Metsola arrives at Counting Hall
Roberta Metsola arrived at Counting Hall to rapturous applause from party supporters. She thanked all candidates and workers of all parties for participating, saying “we are celebrating a democratic process that has worked”.
14:15 | The leading candidates
Roberta Metsola (PN), Alex Agius Saliba (PL), Arnold Cassola (Independent), Daniel Attard (PL), Thomas Bajada (PL) and Peter Agius (PN) are the six leading candidates by first-count votes, as 35% of votes have been scanned.
This is just one-third of the number 1 votes, and things could shift dramatically as votes are redistributed. PN insiders indicate that David Casa is likely to get elected by inheriting many from Roberta Metsola’s votes.
12:40 | Bernard Grech speaks on Net
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Net TV the results show that people have spoken against the Labour Party’s style of governing. The ‘vote gap’ (between PL and PN) could go down to less than 15,000 votes, he said.
12:00 | Labour claims victory
…but the party’s lead could go as low as 13,500 votes, sources from both the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party suggest. Prime Minister Robert Abela also claimed a solid victory in a comment to TVM, but avoided to give a number on Labour’s lead.
09:37 | Vote counting started
Vote counting has officially started with the reviewing of ballots and separating valid from invalid votes.
09:23 | No reply for Cassola
Arnold Cassola says he still hasn’t received a reply from the Electoral Commission on his request to receive data on first preferences every five minutes, as is shared with PL and PN.
09:10 | Scanning process delayed
The vote scanning process will not start before 09:30, as votes placed in the wrong ballot boxes are being reconciled.
Some voters cast their local council vote in European Parliament ballot boxes and vice versa.
The ballot boxes for the local council elections will only be opened on Wednesday, so any MEP votes placed there are effectively lost.
08:55 | ‘Relatively calm’ atmosphere
Colleagues reporting from Counting Hall in Naxxar say it’s still ‘relatively calm’ there. The live broadcasts of PBS, One and Net confirm this. Party delegates are slowly taking their positions in order to tally the votes when they’ll be counted in front of their eyes from 9am.
08:24 | ‘I worked my ass off’
ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci has arrived at Counting Hall. “I worked my ass off. No regrets. Gave my all”, Gauci said on Facebook, thanking all those who supported her “whatever the result”.
08:10 | Today it’s about European Parliament only
Today, only the European Parliament Election votes will be counted. The results of the Local Council Elections will be known on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with counting of votes scheduled to begin at 2pm on each of these days.
Wednesday 12 June:
Balzan, Birżebbuġa, Dingli, Fontana, Għajnsielem, Għasri, Iklin, Marsa, Mellieħa, Mqabba, Nadur, Pembroke, Qrendi, Santa Venera, St Julians, St Paul’s Bay, Ta’ Xbiex, Tarxien, Valletta, Xewkija, Żebbuġ, Żejtun and Żurrieq.
Thursday 13 June:
Birkirkara, Bormla, Fgura, Għarb, Għaxaq, Gudja, Kalkara, Lija, Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, Mġarr, Msida, Paola, Pietà, Rabat, Rabat (Gozo), San Ġwann, Sannat, Sliema, Xagħra and Żabbar.
Friday 14 June:
Attard, Birgu, Floriana, Għargħur, Gżira, Ħamrun, Isla, Kerċem, Kirkop, Luqa, Mosta, Mtarfa, Munxar, Naxxar, Qala, Qormi, Safi, San Lawrenz, Santa Luċija, Siġġiewi, Swieqi, Xgħajra and Żebbuġ (Gozo).
07:55 | What’s next?
During the coming hours, starting from 9am, the ballot papers will be scanned and the votes counted. Officials of the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party are regularly being provided with data on the first-preference votes.
At 3am, independent candidate Arnold Cassola reiterated his request to the Electoral Commission to also be given access to this data every five minutes. However, the commission has not replied to Cassola’s request.
Within the first hour of counting, we might get an indication of the strength of the two major parties.
