First votes cast in Malta general election

Voting for the 2008 Malta general election commenced limitedly this morning when assistant electoral commissioners started casting their ballots in special ballot boxes at the counting centre in Naxxar.

The assistant commissioners, numbering over 500, are allowed to vote a day early because they will be occupied all day tomorrow on the supervision of the voting process. Thirteen ballot boxes, one for each district, have been set up for the purpose at Naxxar.

Voting for the general pubic tomorrow will be open between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Electoral Commission officials said this morning that a total of 5,266 voting documents remained uncollected when the deadline passed at midnight last night That means that almost 98 percent of registered voters collected their voting documents and there are 309,016 voters who can vote.

At the 2003 elections, 2,377 voting documents remained uncollected, when there were 294,106 eligible voters.

Interestingly, although local council elections will be held tomorrow in only a third of localities, the number of uncollected voting documents for the local elections totalled 6,825 so that 92.7 percent of registered voters can actually vote.

The month-long electoral campaign ended yesterday with two large mass meetings and a debate between the leaders of the main political parties. Today is a 'day of reflection' when no electioneering is allowed. The press too may not carry items which may influence the electorate.