The elections: an organisational nightmare

This morning's dissolution of Parliament has set in motion a rapid and somewhat complex process which will lead to the election of (at least) 65 men and women to form the 11th Parliament since Independence.

The President will immediately issue a writ to formally dissolve Parliament and a writ for the Electoral Commission to hold the general elections.

The general elections are based on the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, with five MPs being elected from each of the 13 electoral divisions. In terms of the recently-amended Constitution, should only candidates from two parties get elected, the party winning the relative or absolute majority of first count votes will have enough parliamentary seats credited to it in proportion to its vote majority in order to be able to govern, thus avoiding a repeat of what happened in 1981. (Parliament can thus have more than 65 MPs)

The people eligible to vote are those whose name was carried in the last Electoral Register, published in October.

Following the publication of the President's writs today, the Electoral Commission has three days within which to publish notices stating the place, date and time where the commissioners will receive nominations of candidates for the election and any objections to such nominations.

The Commission will also issue notices listing the places, where and when voting shall be held; the place where the ballot boxes will be taken after the close of voting and where vote counting will take place.

This year, for the first time, vote counting will take place at the former Trade Fair grounds in Naxxar.

VOTING DOCUMENTS

Within 19 days of the publication of the election writ, the commission will send a voting document to every voter. However the commission will not send voting documents to those voters of whom it does not have a photograph . The commission is required to publish a list of such persons within three days of the publication of the election writ.

In terms of the General Elections Act, the commission has to give the political parties all reasonable facilities to oversee the printing of the voting documents. Until their distribution, the documents have to be kept in boxes sealed by the commission. Parties also have the right to affix their own seal.

Voting documents will be served to each voter by a policeman who may be accompanied by representatives of the political parties.

When the voting documents cannot be delivered to voters, the commission will publish a list of the names, ID card numbers and addresses of persons who would not have received them. Such persons may, up to the Thursday before polling day, call personally at the offices of the commission to collect their voting document.

Anybody losing the voting document may, up to the Wednesday before polling day, appear before an electoral commissioner to make a declaration on oath that he has not received or has lost the voting document and may then be given a special voting document.

By the Friday before polling day, the Electoral Commission will publish a list of the voting documents printed, the number distributed, the names of those who had received them, the number and reasons for voting documents withheld (such as persons who would have died) and the number of voting documents that remained undelivered, along with the names of the persons they were addressed to.

PRINTING OF BALLOT PAPERS

The printing of ballot papers has to start "not earlier than 13 days but not later than 10 days" before the poll. Not later than five days before the printing starts, the commission will produce a Braille template for use as a guide as well as a playback listening device by which a blind person may recognise the political parties and candidates. This shall be scrutinised by the parties. Should any objection be made, the commission will take a decision within 24 hours and should the objection be upheld, any amendment has to be made within 24 hours and communicated to the parties.

Like the voting documents, ballot papers have to be printed on security paper to make duplication difficult. Two days before the poll, the commission is required to publish the number of ballot papers printed for each electoral division and the number to be distributed to each polling booth. The party representatives will again be able to supervise the printing, storage and distribution of the polling papers.

The law lays down the form of the ballot paper, with the candidates listed by their name including any nickname, address and profession or occupation. The candidates will be listed in alphabetical order within the section of the ballot paper reserved for their political party. If supplied by the party, a party emblem can be carried next to the candidate's name. Parties having at least four candidates in each district can have the names displayed in colour. The commission will assign the colour but the parties may refuse it.

NOMINATIONS

Election candidates have to submit their nomination in writing and be backed by at least four residents of each electoral division contested. Candidates will be required to deposit Lm40 for each nomination. When a candidate is not elected and the number of votes polled for him does not exceed one-tenth of the number of voted polled, divided by five (the number of elected candidates in each division) the deposit shall be forfeited. In other cases, it will be returned.

The General Elections Act provides for the nomination of assistant electoral commissioners by the political parties within 10 days of the publication of the election writ. The Electoral Commission itself will also appoint a number of assistant commissioners so that in each of the polling booths there is at least one person nominated by the commission. The parties will also have the right to nominate as many party agents as the number of ballot boxes. They will have the right to be present in the polling stations prior to the start and at the close of the poll.

The parties will also have 13 district agents to act as district coordinators to represent the party with the commission in the district to which they would have been appointed.

On polling day, polling takes place between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.