The Labour Party has won a huge general election victory, sweeping to power with a majority of 55% or some 30,000 votes.

The party is expected to have a parliamentary majority of up to nine seats, the biggest since 1955.

AD are projected to have won 1.8 per cent of the vote. None of their candidates was elected.

Joseph Muscat said he was 'humbled' by the result but promised to work with the Opposition and give the people Malta for all the Maltese,

Supporters poured into the streets in celebration, heading towards Labour headquarters in Hamrun, honking their horns and waving and Maltese flags.

This is Labour's first Labour victory in 16 years and its biggest since Dom Mintoff became prime minister for the first time.  

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi conceded defeat after the first sample of votes as the sorting of ballot papers started. He phoned Joseph Muscat to congratulate him.

In the Naxxar counting hall there were scenes of jubilation as Labour party agents hugged each other with tears in their eyes.

Fireworks were let off in some localities.

Optimism and enthusiasm had been building early in the Labour ranks as opinion polls showed their party consistently in the lead and as vote turnout figures last night showed an appreciable drop only in the PN-leaning districts.

Small crowds started gathering in mid-morning outside PL headquarters and in various squares.

In Cospicua, a man said (at 10 a.m.) that he was sure Labour would win, but, he said, they were holding off celebrations for now because of what happened five years ago (when celebrations were short lived because it was the PN which actually won)

“Even Bormlizi who never voted, not even for Mintoff, came out to vote yesterday,” one elderly man said.

Another man said that five years ago he was celebrating with PN but now he felt that he was in the right place celebrating with Labour.