Maltese local council elections, 2006

Local council elections were held for 23 localities in Malta on 11 March 2006. Traditionally, this round of elections has given positive results to the Nationalist Party, with the biggest villages apart from Żabbar, being the traditional villages in which the Nationalist Party (Sliema, Naxxar, Birkirkara) obtains best results. 88 per cent of the voting documents were collected.

Results

The Malta Labour Party (MLP) has won the Local Council elections with 53.8% of first count votes. The PN obtained 43% while Alternattiva Demokratika and independent candidates obtained 3.2%. 3.2% may seem insignificant on a national level but in one locality alone, namely Marsaskala, it translated in over 600 votes for the new independent group, G.I.M. headed by ex PN MP Dr Josie Muscat.

Other Election comments

• The Nationalist Party is at present in government. It has introduced several measures which might affect the election such as the rise in the price of electricity.

• A former Nationalist MP Dr Josie Muscat along with three other members of the new GIM "Grupp Indipendenti Marsascala". has successfully contested the elections in Marsaskala as an independent candidate. The three other G.I.M contestants were Marvic Attard Gialanze ( first independent female mayor in the first ever local councils elections in 1994), John J Cole, and Mariella Cutajar. G.I.M or Grupp Indipendenti Marsaskala have their own web site at www.gimarsaskala.com

• There was criticism regarding the government's plans on a recycling plant in Marsascala and the recently announced large scale fish farm concentration just 6 km away from this idyllic picturesque sea-side village.

• Dr Josie Muscat was elected to Marsaskala's 2006/9 local council representing G.I.M., which group garnered well over 600 first votes. G.I.M. is against the waste recycling plant in Marsaskala, the fish farms industry just 6 km away from Marsascala and the exclusion of Marsaskala from the tourist zone by the government. Dr Josie Muscat's election is a loss and a warning to the Nationalist Party in government. It now has two councillors instead of the three it used to elect in Marsaskala.

• In Sliema, local residents are angry at the approach the Local Council has taken to the building up of a new multi-storage car park in a residential area.