Malta has begun voting in a referendum on joining an enlarged European Union which is expected to provide a narrow victory for Prime Minister Eddie Fenech-Adami's pro-Europe Nationalist Party.
The prime minister voted early in his native Birkirkara in the centre of Malta and said he was confident the Mediterranean archipelago would embrace Europe.
'I wouldn't like to venture a figure but it will be over 50 percent,' he said after voting with his wife Mary amid a surging crowd of journalists and cameramen.
Labour Party leader Alfred Sant, who has urged the Maltese to reject Europe during a divisive campaign, was to cast his vote later in the same polling station.
Malta is the first of 10 candidate countries to hold a referendum on EU membership, setting off a process which will see some 50 million voters going to the polls in referendums in eight other countries over the next six months.
First official results are expected late on Sunday morning.
