Maltese Election Data & Analysis

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Malta's Labor Premier Resigns

.c The Associated Press 

VALLETTA, Malta (AP) -- The conservative Nationalist Party is claiming Malta's
biggest election victory since World War II as a mandate for the island
nation's drive to join the European Union. 

Prime Minister Alfred Sant of the Labor Party, who had put an EU bid on hold,
resigned after conceding defeat Sunday. Nationalist leader Eddie Fenech Adami
immediately was sworn in. 

Election officials said Monday that final results gave Nationalists 51.8
percent of the vote, compared to 46.9 for Labor. The remaining votes went to a
tiny environmentalist party. 

Early Monday, Maltese started to celebrate in the streets. Boys wore the
Nationalist party flag as a cape and girls tied minute flags around their
necks as scarves. Cars were draped with the flags of the winning party and of
the European Union. 

Fenech Adami, who pushed for EU entry for this tiny crossroads in the
Mediterranean while he was prime minister from 1987-1996, told cheering
supporters: ``The first thing that I am going to do is to inform the EU that
the Maltese people want membership.'' 

AP-NY-09-07-98 1509EDT 
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I estimate that the Nationalist Party has about a 3-4 seat margin using STV.