Three Non-PNPL Politicians Make It Into Top 10 In New MEP Survey
Three MEP candidates who aren’t contesting with PL or PN have made it into the top 10 of people’s first preference votes.
The latest political survey, conducted by IDEA Group’s Malta Survey, provides some eye-opening findings – with Imperium Europa leader Norman Lowell, independent candidate Arnold Cassola, and ADPD leader Sandra Gauci, all featuring among the top 10 candidates.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola (27.5%) and PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba (26.2%) appear so popular that more than half of voters will choose one of them as their first preference.
PL’s Daniel Attard is third, with 10.1% of first-preference votes, well ahead of fellow PL candidates Clint Azzopardi and Steve Ellul, who are in fourth and fifth with 5.2% and 4.4% respectively.
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At 4.3%, Lowell is the most popular non-PLPN candidate and the sixth most popular candidate overall in terms of first preference votes.
He is followed by PN’s Norma Camilleri (4%), independent Arnold Cassola and ADPD’s Sandra Gauci (both at 3.3%), and PN’s Peter Agius (2.4%).
This does not mean that the six seats will go to Metsola, Agius Saliba, Attard, Azzopardi Flores, Ellul, and Lowell as the top six, as a lot will hinge on the inherited votes of candidates who reach the MEP quota and those who are eliminated.
With Metsola and Agius Saliba soaking up so many of their party supporters’ first-preference votes, their inherited votes are set to be crucial. David Casa and Daniel Attard are primed to win most of Metsola’s and Agius Saliba’s inherited votes respectively, which will give them a major boost.
However, the popularity of Metsola and Agius Saliba also seems to be coming at the cost of other PL-PN candidates, which could provide a boost in the arm to third party and independent candidates in terms of first-preference votes.
The survey was carried out online between 11th and 17th April, with stratified sampling to mirror the demographic composition of the electorate, including age, gender, geographic location and education.
With a sample size of 1,618, the findings have a marginof error of 2.48% at a 95% confidence level.
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