The first night of scanning for the local council elections kicked off last night and threw up a few surprises, with Labour capturing some key localities.

The PL is currently leading with 60% of the vote share to PN’s 36%, although there are still two more days of counting to go.

Here are some highlights from last night’s election results

1. Labour won Valletta and St Paul’s Bay for the first time ever

For the first time since the inception of local councils, Malta’s capital city will be led by a Labour majority. The traditionally nationalist locality saw Labour with four seats to the PN’s three, a 7% gap. Alfred Zammit will serve as Valletta’s Mayor.

Writing on Twitter, Prime Minister Joseph 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 also managed to wrestle St Paul’s Bay from the PN’s grasp, getting 53% of the vote. Alfred Grima was elected as Mayor of St Paul’s Bay.

The Nationalist Party did manage to keep hold of St Julian’s, however, by the end of the evening, the PL won a total of 16 localities to the PN’s 7.

2. A 17-year-old became the youngest councillor ever

Young Carlos Zarb no longer made history for being the first under-18-year-old candidate to be elected (and the youngest ever, for that matter), but he will now also be the youngest vice mayor ever, in the previously-mentioned now PL-majority St. Paul’s Bay.

St. Julian’s – which saw the Nationalists keep their 6 out of 9 council majority over the Labour Party – elected another teenage politician, PN’s Sean Gauci.

Meanwhile, ?urrieq and Santa Venera elected similarly young councillors Gianluca Falzon (20) and Kaydem Schembri (21) respectively, both from the Labour Party camp.

3. A young environmental activist was elected as an independent candidate in ?a?-?ebbu?

23-year-old activist Steve Zammit Lupi managed to get elected as an independent candidate in ?a?-?ebbu?, with an impressive 947 votes. One of the town’s favourite sons, Zammit Lupi has made a name for himself in the environmental sector, for his bicycle advocacy, and some excellent videography.

“Thank you for those who chose civic sense, ?ebbu? culture, and the environment above everything else!” Zammit Lupi said in an emotional Facebook post on Wednesday night.

4. Not one third party candidate was elected

Zammit Lupi’s election seems all the more impressive when considering that not a single third party candidate was elected in last night’s elections, despite AD Leader Carmel Capocardo contesting in St Julian’s, an area plagued by over-development and environmental issues.

What’s happening tonight?

Another 23 towns and villages around Malta and Gozo will elect their local councils this evening, which are:

Birkirkara, Bormla, ?al G?axaq, ?al Lija, ?a?-?abbar, Fgura, Gudja, Kalkara, Rabat (both Gozo and Malta), Xag?ra, G?arb, M?arr, Msida, Marsaskala, Marsaxlokk, Paola, San ?wann, Ta’ Sannat, Pieta’ and Sliema.

Sliema should be an exciting battleground. The PN-stronghold has seen a 20% drop in turnout from 2013.

Featured Image Background Photo by The Independent

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Julian Bonnici

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