The infamous referendum

Let me explain, since you're not Maltese. 

The "yes" votes did in fact surpass the "no" votes slightly, but despite that, less than 50% of the total voting population actually voted "yes." Therefore, the Nationalist party celebrated because the "yes" votes surpassed the "no" votes, and concurrently, the Labour Party celebrated because less than 50% of the population voted "yes." (Can you imagine what it was like? Carcades from both parties, mass meetings...both claiming that "WE WON!"? Seriously...)

Therefore there was complete chaos in Malta for a few weeks because nobody could figure out whether we were actually going to join the EU or not. Finally, the Primeminister was eventually forced to hold an early general election to clear the misunderstandings. 

Quotes from the letter:

"The Christian Democrats [Nationalists], now in power, are assured of a coming election victory. They are also in for a resounding defeat in a referendum on Malta's European membership."

"There should be an amalgamation of Election and Referendum. The Nationalists should say; "ok, we are going to have a referendum on Europe; this coming election will serve also as a referendum on Europe"." [ This is what the Nationalist party was forced to do]

Now, obviously, the Nationalists still claim that they won the referendum, while Labour still claim the opposite. But the point is, an early general election was held due to this. In other words (it's hilarious really), the referendum was utterly futile. Our entry in the EU was in fact determined by a general election!

Now that you know what happened, perhaps you could reword that phrase or something...whatever you thing is right...