Levels of Competition
The term "level of competition" here refers to the number of candidates who compete
for the available seats on local councils. As the Table below reveals, the odds for
being elected have varied little in the most recent rounds of elections. While there was
an average of 2.12 candidates per seat in the first round, this average declined quite
sharply in the second round to 1.59 and has since stabitlized at a little over 1.7
candidates per seat.
Some localities with above-average levels of competition have been Marsaxlokk, Mgarr,
San Pawl il-Bahar, San Gwann and Xaghra. The least competitive ones include
Gharghur, Xghajra, Zebbug (Malta) and Zurrieq.
At the exteme are the occasional non-competitive elections where the number of
candidates equals the number of seats to be filled. This has occurred in Ghasri,
Kercem, Kirkop, Marsa, Munxar, Pieta, Qala, San Lawrenz, Zejtun and twice in
both Fontana and Safi.
	The tabulations here do not distinguish between candidates from different parties.
	For the number of candidates fielded by each party or group, consult the following
	file  --> www.maltadata.com/tr-compete2.htm
	Number	Number of Candidates					Candidates per seat
Locality	of	in Round					in Round
	Seats	1	2	3	4	5	1	2	3	4	5
Attard	7	17	11	16	14	14	2.43	1.57	2.29	2.00	2.00
Balzan	5	10	11	11	10	9	2.00	2.20	2.20	2.00	1.80
Birgu (Vittoriosa)	5	10	9	8	8	9	2.00	1.80	1.60	1.60	1.80
Birkirkara	13	30	19	17	18	20	2.31	1.46	1.31	1.38	1.54
Birzebbuga	7	16	12	13	9	10	2.29	1.71	1.86	1.29	1.43
Bormla	7	14	10	15	12	14	2.00	1.43	2.14	1.71	2.00
Dingli	5	10	7	10	10	11	2.00	1.40	2.00	2.00	2.20
Fgura	5	18	19	14	14	17	3.60	3.80	2.80	2.80	3.40
Floriana	5	12	9	11	13	9	2.40	1.80	2.20	2.60	1.80
Fontana	5	7	6	5	5	6	1.40	1.20	1.00	1.00	1.20
Ghajnsielem	5	11	8	8	9	9	2.20	1.60	1.60	1.80	1.80
Gharb	5	10	8	9	7	6	2.00	1.60	1.80	1.40	1.20
Gharghur	5	8	8	8	7	7	1.60	1.60	1.60	1.40	1.40
Ghasri	5	7	6	5	8	6	1.40	1.20	1.00	1.60	1.20
Ghaxaq	5	10	8	7	7	9	2.00	1.60	1.40	1.40	1.80
Gudja	5	11	8	6	8	8	2.20	1.60	1.20	1.60	1.60
Gzira	7	15	10	14	12	14	2.14	1.43	2.00	1.71	2.00
Hamrun	9	18	12	15	17	13	2.00	1.33	1.67	1.89	1.44
Iklin	5	16	7	12	8	11	3.20	1.40	2.40	1.60	2.20
Isla (Senglea)	5	11	8	11	11	8	2.20	1.60	2.20	2.20	1.60
Kalkara	5	14	10	7	9	8	2.80	2.00	1.40	1.80	1.60
Kercem	5	10	5	10	7	7	2.00	1.00	2.00	1.40	1.40
Kirkop	5	?	5	9	8	8	?	1.00	1.80	1.60	1.60
Lija	5	11	11	9	12	9	2.20	2.20	1.80	2.40	1.80
Luqa	7	13	11	13	11	11	1.86	1.57	1.86	1.57	1.57
Marsa	7	13	12	11	9	7	1.86	1.71	1.57	1.29	1.00
Marsaskala	5 & 7	12	11	13	12	14	2.40	1.57	1.88	1.71	2.00
Marsaxlokk	5	11	10	12	13	11	2.20	2.00	2.40	2.60	2.20
Mdina	5	11	7	8	8	8	2.20	1.40	1.60	1.60	1.60
Mellieha	7	12	17	14	17	16	1.71	2.43	2.00	2.43	2.29
Mgarr	5	11	10	10	11	9	2.20	2.00	2.00	2.20	1.80
Mosta	11	23	19	21	17	19	2.09	1.73	1.91	1.55	1.73
Mqabba	5	10	6	10	11	9	2.00	1.20	2.00	2.20	1.80
Msida	7	15	11	14	13	15	2.14	1.57	2.00	1.86	2.14
Mtarfa	5			9	8	8			1.80	1.60	1.60
Munxar	5	8	5	9	7	7	1.60	1.00	1.80	1.40	1.40
Nadur	5	10	11	8	12	11	2.00	2.20	1.60	2.40	2.20
Naxxar	7 & 9	22	17	12	15	14	3.14	2.43	1.33	1.67	1.56
Paola	7	17	11	13	11	11	2.43	1.57	1.86	1.57	1.57
Pembroke	5	12	7	12	9	10	2.40	1.40	2.40	1.80	2.00
Pieta	5	13	5	10	9	9	2.60	1.00	2.00	1.80	1.80
Qala	5	12	5	9	8	9	2.40	1.00	1.80	1.60	1.80
Qormi	11	27	17	17	13	14	2.45	1.55	1.55	1.18	1.27
Qrendi	5	8	12	12	11	8	1.60	2.40	2.40	2.20	1.60
Rabat (Gozo)	7	13	12	12	9	10	1.86	1.71	1.71	1.29	1.43
Rabat (Malta)	9	19	16	15	15	18	2.11	1.78	1.67	1.67	2.00
Safi	5	7	5	5	8	10	1.40	1.00	1.00	1.60	2.00
San Giljan	7	18	10	10	13	14	2.57	1.43	1.43	1.86	2.00
San Gwann	9	24	15	21	20	20	2.67	1.67	2.33	2.22	2.22
San Lawrenz	5	6	5	7	7	8	1.20	1.00	1.40	1.40	1.60
San Pawl il-Bahar	7 & 9	22	15	21	20	17	3.14	2.14	3.00	2.22	1.89
Sannat	5	9	9	8	6	9	1.80	1.80	1.60	1.20	1.80
Santa Lucija	5	9	7	9	10	9	1.80	1.40	1.80	2.00	1.80
Santa Venera	7	13	11	14	13	12	1.86	1.57	2.00	1.86	1.71
Siggiewi	7	13	18	17	12	11	1.86	2.57	2.43	1.71	1.57
Sliema	9	27	11	12	14	21	3.00	1.22	1.33	1.56	2.33
Swieqi	7	17	10	12	14	17	2.43	1.43	1.71	2.00	2.43
Tarxien	7	19	10	14	12	10	2.71	1.43	2.00	1.71	1.43
Ta'Xbiex	5	10	7	8	8	9	2.00	1.40	1.60	1.60	1.80
Valletta	7	15	13	12	11	15	2.14	1.86	1.71	1.57	2.14
Xaghra	5	12	6	13	13	12	2.40	1.20	2.60	2.60	2.40
Xewkija	5	9	7	7	10	10	1.80	1.40	1.40	2.00	2.00
Xghajra	5	9	8	6	6	7	1.80	1.60	1.20	1.20	1.40
Zabbar	9 & 11	19	13	13	17	18	2.11	1.44	1.44	1.55	1.64
Zebbug (Gozo)	5	9	7	9	6	10	1.80	1.40	1.80	1.20	2.00
Zebbug (Malta)	9	13	12	14	15	14	1.44	1.33	1.56	1.67	1.56
Zejtun	9	19	14	12	11	9	2.11	1.56	1.33	1.22	1.00
Zurrieq	7	11	9	11	12	11	1.57	1.29	1.57	1.71	1.57
ALL		898	681	769	750	763	2.12	1.59	1.77	1.71	1.74