Court turns down recount applications

A court has turned down applications by the Nationalist Party for recounts on the eighth and 13th districts. That means that Labour will retain its majority in the two districts. The elected candidates are: Eighth district: Chris Cardona, Edward Zammit Lewis and Edward Scicluna for Labour and Beppe Fenech Adami and Tonio Fenech for the PN. Thirteenth district - Anton Refalo, Franco Mercieca and Justyne Caruana for Labour. Giovanna Debono and Chris Said for the PN. Besides the seats Mr Frederick Azzopardi (13th district) and Ms Claudette Buttigieg (8th district) will be getting, the PN will also be getting another two seats to reflect proportionality. These would be going to Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Paula Mifsud Bonnici. The PL will continue to have a nine-seat majority. Mr Azzopardi and Ms Buttigieg had argued during the court case that although they would still be elected when extra seats are credited to the PN to reflect proportional representation, they were interested in being elected through the ordinary counting process. The Constitutional Court, however, pointed out that this was not in the judicial interest because the seats the two candidates would be allocated had the...