The center-left Labour Party (MLP) has won an unprecedented fourth term in Malta's general elections, preliminary results showed Sunday.

"This is a victory of all the people based on the program we ⁠presented ⁠for all the people," Prime Minister Robert Abela told reporters, saying the outcome showed his party had "won a strong ​mandate."

"Let us maintain the spirit of national unity and ​move the country forward together," he said.

More than 340,000 people were eligible to cast ballots in Saturday's vote in the European Union's smallest member state. The turnout was 87%.

"It's not the result we wanted, but it's a very clear message. We will keep working to be a strong alternative for the country," leader of the opposition conservative Nationalist Party (PN) Alex Borg said, according to the Times of Malta. 

Official results are expected to be announced later Sunday.

What were the main campaign issues?

Abela, 48, called a snap election a year early, saying his government needed a new mandate to guide the country through the energy crisis triggered by the war in Iran.

Polling ahead of the election had put his party as the clear favorite.

The PN had sought to present its 30-year-old candidate, Borg, as a fresh alternative who could bring political change after more than a decade of Labour rule.

During the campaign, the lawyer and former "Mr World Malta" beauty pageant winner railed against a country "in chaos," pointing to a strained health care system and power outages.

Abela, meanwhile, campaigned on the strength of the economy since 2013, pledging competence and stability. He has led Malta since 2020, when his predecessor stepped down amid a political crisis over the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

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