Election plays havoc with waterpolo team's programme abroad

Malta's hard-working national waterpolo team have had to curtail their scheduled games abroad for the sake of casting their vote in the April 12 election.

The team will catch a flight for Slovakia on Monday to compete in the European Waterpolo Championships but will pack their bags mid-way through the tournament to return to vote in the general election.

This will effectively mean that Malta will be relegated to group B, a year after last year's historic promotion to group A.

Malta will play Slovakia on Wednesday, Turkey on Thursday and Greece on Friday. But Aquatic Sports Association president Robbie Ebejer said the team would be packing bags after the Greece game, and would have to renounce the games against Romania and Poland on Saturday and Sunday.

When contacted, Mr Ebejer said it was high time for the electoral commission to find ways and means of averting similar situations in future.

"We should have been eligible to vote anyway - either through proxy, or maybe through our embassy abroad," he said.

Mr Ebejer admitted however, that the vast majority of team players expressed their wish to come back to vote in the April 12 election.

Rather than risk being fined €15,000 for retiring from the competition, plus €10,000 as expenses to start afresh from the qualifying rounds next year, the ASA thought it would be more convenient to have two walkovers.

Still, Mr Ebejer did not exclude that some form of sanction could be imposed.

The only consoling factor for Mr Ebejer is that the Malta team would still be playing against the top of the crop.

"We have no pretensions. The chances of qualifying were practically impossible anyway," he said.

Team coach Dirk Dowling said the situation was a very embarrassing one for the 16 members of the national team.

"It goes without saying, that abroad they do not understand our political situation, and it's going to be rather humiliating walking out of the tournament in that manner."

Only in exceptional circumstances would the electoral commission allow someone to vote earlier, that is on the day before the actual election. In all other cases, the individual has to be present himself in the polling station.

In a statement, Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday said that Malta's national waterpolo team should be given the right to vote a few days before the general election.

"These players are representing Malta on an official basis, and therefore, they should be given the right to vote before the general election, as is the case with assistant electoral commissioners," AD said.