Malta opposition wins Euro Parliament elections

VALLETTA (Reuters) - Malta's Opposition Labour Party claimed victory on Sunday in the Mediterranean island's European Parliament election.

"We have won an absolute majority," Labour leader Joseph Muscat said in a statement on the party's television station.

Maltese voted on Saturday to elect five members of the European Parliament and will get a sixth when the bloc's reforming Lisbon Treaty comes into force. Turnout was 79 percent, down from 82 percent in the 2004 election.

Paul Borg Olivier, general secretary of the ruling Nationalist Party, said Labour may have won 57 percent of the vote to the Nationalists' 40 percent. The figures were based on estimates by the parties as vote counting started.

The elections were held just over a year after the Nationalist Party stayed in power by narrowly beating Labour in a general election.

Labour has insisted that the European election is a vote of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, but Gonzi in his final news conference before the poll insisted this was not a confidence vote.

The poll took place against the backdrop of a stagnant economy, influenced by the global crisis, with a sharply rising financial deficit and high prices for water and electricity.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)