Women will again make up half of Malta’s European Parliament representation, with three female candidates elected just as had happened during the 2014 election.

Miriam Dalli (PL) and Roberta Metsola (PN) were the two candidates who polled best among voters overall, with Dr Dalli in particular striking a chord with voters.

The incumbent MEP and former ONE journalist obtained more than 63,000 first count votes – 25,232 more than the second most popular candidate, the PN’s Roberta Metsola.

Both women will be joined in Brussels and Strasbourg by newcomer Josianne Cutajar, who obtained 15,603 first count votes and was elected on the final count. 

Those three elected candidates were not the only women who could consider the election to be a success, however.

PD's Appelgren

Democratic Party candidate Camilla Appelgren amassed more than 3,000 first count votes – roughly double those of her party’s leader, Godfrey Farrugia. In a Facebook post, she wrote that she would make “every vote count”.

“My fight for Malta is lifelong,” Ms Appelgren, who had quit social media in the run-up to the election after alleging that she had received death threats, wrote.

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Alternattiva Demokratika had a tough time at the polls, obtaining fewer than 2,000 votes overall and seeing their overall support decimated from 2.95 per cent of the vote in 2014, to just 0.72 per cent this time round.

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Nevertheless, their candidate Mina Tolu, who identifies as non-binary, could take heart from the fact that their 845 votes were just a couple of hundred fewer than those obtained by party leader Carmel Cacopardo.