Vote counting for local council elections commences

On Wednesday (today), vote counting for the local council elections that took place on Saturday 8th June, commenced.

Voting will be split equally between three days. The first batch of localities whose votes will be counted today are: Birżebbuġa, St Julian’s, Tarxien, Iklin, Żurrieq, St Paul’s Bay, Ta’ Xbiex, Santa Venera, Għajnsielem, Mellieħa, Pembroke, Żejtun, Imqabba, Qrendi, Valletta, Żebbuġ (Malta), Nadur, Marsa, Fontana, Balzan, Dingli, Għasri and Xewkija.

For the coming tense days, all eyes are expected to be on the counting hall in Naxxar, following the drastic change in majority voting seen in the MEP election results.

The final voting count established a gap of just 8,454 votes between the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party. The result was described by many Labour figures, including Prime Minister Robert Abela, as a “clear message” from the electorate.

Over the years, PL dominated the local council elections, especially in 2019 after winning a number of localities, and securing another majority win. The coming days will tell whether its streak will continue or if it reflects another message by the electorate.

Now, the public will be electing 476 councillors from 68 local councils across the islands.

This will mark an increase of 12 councillors when compared to the 2019 elections as it reflects a change in composition of eight councils. Seven councils will have two additional councillors.  

These changes were implemented based on an established formula that reflects the changes in population numbers of localities in the past five years. Overall, the amount of councillors in each locality will vary between five, seven, nine, 11 or 13 councillors.

In addition, for the first time in Malta’s electoral history, councillors aged 16 and over were allowed to run for council.  

Total voting turnout for the local council elections stood at 59.4 per cent. Here is the turnout for each locality in descending order: