Sawt Falasteen - Malta's government claims third term after elections

Although official results are not expected for hours, Prime Minister Robert Abela claimed victory in a call with Maltese television, while in the counting hall in the town of Naxxar, Labour delegates monitoring the vote erupted into cheers.

"We are very satisfied that for the next five years Malta will again have a Labour government," Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne told AFP at the count, saying all signs were of an "absolute majority" for his party.

Michael Piccinino, general secretary of the opposition Nationalist Party, confirmed leader Bernard Grech had spoken to the prime minister to concede.

The outcome of Saturday's polls represents the first electoral mandate for Abela, a lawyer who took the reins of the tiny Mediterranean island nation in January 2020 in an internal party vote.

His predecessor, Joseph Muscat, had been forced to quit following public protests over the 2017 car bomb murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had exposed corruption at the top of his administration.

A public inquiry last year found the state under Muscat created a "culture of impunity" in which her enemies felt they could silence her.

Abela has since moved to strengthen good governance and press freedom, although Caruana Galizia's family say he has not gone far enough.

- Lowest turnout for decades -

The Nationalist Party pressed the issue of corruption, but Labour's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its economy record in nine years in power took centre stage.

Many residents complained however of a lacklustre campaign involving two largely similar parties -- there has been no third party in Malta's parliament since before independence from Britain in 1964.

It was also overshadowed by concerns over the war in Ukraine, with the government forced to spend millions of euros mitigating spiking commodity prices -- and the sense the result was inevitable, with all polls pointing to a Labour landslide.

The Electoral Commission said overnight that turnout looked set to be 85.5 percent, the lowest in a general election since 1955, and the first time it has dropped below 90 percent since 1966.

However, Fearne, who is also Malta's health minister, insisted the turnout was "high by European standards".

This was the first general election in Malta in which 16- and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote, although they have previously had that right in local and European Parliament elections.

Located off the coast of Sicily, Catholic-majority Malta is the smallest and most densely populated country in the European Union, with around 516,000 people living in 316 square kilometres (122 square miles).

Despite few natural resources, it has built a thriving economy based largely on tourism, financial services and online gaming, but it has long fought allegations it acts as a quasi-tax haven.

International anti-money-laundering organisation FATF grey-listed Malta last year, although business leaders hope recent progress will see it removed this summer.

The archipelago has also been criticised by the EU and anti-corruption campaigners for its "golden passports" scheme, which awards citizenship to wealthy investors.

Under political pressure, Abela suspended the scheme for Russians and Belarusians after Russia invaded Ukraine.

H.Nasr--SF-PST