In the summer of 1998, Labour lost a division vote on the proposed Cottonera waterfront project because of Mintoff's renegation on his parliamentary group. This was considered by Prime Minister Sant as a vote of no confidence in his government and informed the then-President of the Republic that he no longer held a parliamentary majority as a result. The President had on various occasions asked Prime Minister Alfred Sant to try to find a solution for the political crisis created, but when all attempts proved futile, he had no other option but to accept Sant and his government's resignation and a call for early elections, which were held on 5 September 1998.