Electoral Commission's redistricting under fire

The Nationalist Party yesterday came out strongly against proposals for changes to the electoral boundaries made by the Electoral Commission. And Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the way the Electoral Commission had based its workings.

In a statement the PN said that had the last general election (April 12, 2003) been held on the basis of the boundaries being proposed by the commission, there would have been a repeat of the perverse result of 1981 in which the Nationalist Party got the majority of votes but a minority of seats in Parliament.

The commission's report, signed by the chairman, Carmel De Gabriele, and four commissioners, and a minority report by the other four commissioners, was presented to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition on Friday. The minority report was drawn up by the four commissioners nominated to the commission by the Nationalist Party.

In terms of the Constitution, the commission's report will have to be debated by Parliament within five months. The House may either approve it or refer it back to the commission for reconsideration. A modified final report will then be issued by the commission within two months.

The commission's report, signed by commissioners Joe Butigieg, Salvu Fenech, Salvu Sant and Tony Sultana, along with the chairman, points out that according to the electoral register published last month, there are 306,334 people eligible to vote. Considering that the mean number of voters per district should be 23,564 and that districts may not have a variation of more or less than five per cent, the maximum number of registered voters in each district may not exceed 24,742 or be less than 22,386.

The first, fifth, ninth, 12th and 13th districts all deviate by more than ± 5 per cent from the mean, with the first district having 10.4 per cent fewer voters, the fifth 5.69 per cent more, the sixth 6.22 per cent less, the ninth 5.66 per cent less, the 12th 10.02 per cent more and the 13th district has a surplus of 7.74 per cent of voters.

The commission said that in drawing up the new electoral boundaries it had sought to ensure that the number of candidates elected in the name of a party from each district, when finally added up, would proportionately reflect the number of votes that the party should have obtained on a national level.

As the only figures available to the commission were the results of the local council elections, these were used for making the necessary calculations. The commission said experience had shown that a party which fared better than the other in local council elections kept doing so even before the general elections, even though voting patterns at general election might then be different.

The commission proposed that in the first electoral district, Marsa be added, Pieta would be retained while Guardamangia would be annexed to the ninth district. According to the proposals, the first district would be made up of Valletta, Floriana, Guardamangia, Hamrun, Marsa and part of St Venera, with a total of 23,446 voters.

In the second district, where the voter population is 3.5 per cent below the average, the part of Zabbar that currently forms part of the third district would be joined to the second district, so that the whole of Zabbar would be in the second district. Fgura would be removed from this district and form part of the third district. The second district would be made up of Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Zabbar, Kalkara and Xghajra. It would have 23,498 voters.

For the third district, with a deviation of three per cent above the national average, the commission proposed that Fgura be added and part of Zabbar removed. According to the commission's proposal, Zejtun, Fgura and Marsascala would make up the third district (23,514 voters).

The fourth district's voter population is 4.97 per cent below the mean. The commisison proposed that Ghaxaq and Marsaxlokk be added while Marsa would be removed. This district would be made up of Gudja, Ghaxaq, Marsaxlokk, Paola, Sta Lucija and Tarxien (23,780 voters).

The fifth district has a deviation of 5.69 per cent above the quota and the commission proposed that Siggiewi be added, and Safi, Ghaxaq and Marsaxlokk removed. Hence the fifth district would be made up of Siggiewi, Birzebbuga, Mqabba, Qrendi and Zurrieq (23,681 voters).

The sixth district has 6.22 per cent fewer voters than the quota, hence Safi would added to it. It would now be composed of Qormi, Luqa, Kirkop, Safi and St Venera (23,506 voters).

The seventh district has a deviation of 2.48 per cent above the quota. The commission proposed adding Rabat, Mtarfa and Mgarr while removing Mdina, Attard and Siggiewi. This district would be made up of Zebbug, Dingli, Mgarr, Mtarfa and Rabat (23,922 voters).

The eighth district is 1.17 per cent below the quota. The commission said Gharghur and part of Iklin should be added, hence all of Iklin would now be within one district. Lija would be removed and transferred to the 11th district. The eighth district would be composed of Balzan, Birkirkara, Gharghur and Iklin (23,661 voters).

The ninth district has 5.66 per cent below the quota. The commission said Swieqi and Pietá (except for Guardamangia) should be added while Gzira and part of Iklin removed. This district would be made up of Msida, Pieta, San Gwann, Swieqi and Ta' Xbiex (23,575 voters).

The tenth district is just 0.49 per cent below the national average. The commission's proposals would see Gzira added and Swieqi removed. Gzira, Pembroke, St Julian's and Sliema would make up the district (23,347 voters).

The 11th district has a deviation of 3.48 per cent above the average. The commission said Mdina, Attard and Lija should be added while Rabat and Mtarfa removed. This district would be made up of Mdina, Attard, Lija and Mosta (22,968 voters).

The 12th district has a deviation of 10.02 per cent above the quota. The commission said Ghajnsielem should be added to it while Mgarr (Malta) and Gharghur are removed. The 12th district would thus be made up of Ghajnsielem, Mellieha, Naxxar and St Paul's Bay (24,068 voters)

The 13th district (Gozo) has 7.74 per cent above the national average and the commission proposed removing Ghajnsielem (the 13th district would thus have 23,368 voters).

The commission said that in this way, the maximum deviation from the quota would be of 2.14 per cent more and 2.53 per cent less.

The commissioners who drew up the minority report - Mario Callus, Henry Distefano, Anna Felice and Vanni Ganado - said they disagreed with the commission's report because the proposed new electoral boundaries had been based on local council election results, and hence, on wrong assumptions.

They criticised some of the proposed districts, arguing that the second and third districts could have been brought closer to the average by simply making bigger the portion of Zabbar that already existed in the second district. The fourth district, as proposed by the commission, geographically now extended from Paola to Grand Harbour and Delimara Point, the fifth district extended from Kalafrana to Fawwara and Dingli, while in the ninth district, with the addition of part of Pietà, created a corridor that extended to Madliena.

There had been no need for any revisions in the tenth district as this had only a small variation of well under one per cent, the minority report said.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party urged Parliament to refer the report back to the Commission.

"The party understands that there is a Constitutional obligation for boundaries to be changed because six districts have a difference of five per cent below or above the average, but the party does not agree with the reasoning behind shifting some of the localities. And the chairman's report categorically says that the methodology used would be to the Labour Party's advantage," the PN said.

The PN criticised the report for basing the new boundaries on results of local council elections, arguing that these were not representative since much fewer people voted.

"The Commission gave the MLP an advantage by changing districts where no change was needed and turning upside down other districts so that the MLP will get more seats in Parliament. Among the districts where such changes took place one finds the first, second, seventh and tenth districts," the PN said.

"The Electoral Commission should work according to the spirit of the Constitution and not impose upon itself obligations and arguments that do not stem from the constitution," the PN said.

It urged Parliament to refer the report back to the commission.