First ballot boxes arrive at Naxxar

The first ballot boxes started arriving at the Naxxar vote counting centre at 11.52 p.m. on Saturday.

The boxes, from the nearby Naxxar polling station, were escorted to the former trade fair grounds by the police, with assistant electoral commissioners carrying large envelopes holding the voting documents and unused ballot papers.

The first ballot boxes from Lija, Iklin, Hamrun and Birkirkara arrived on the stroke of midnight.

There are a total of 519 ballot boxes which over the night will be deposited in the strong rooms at the counting centre.

The assistant commissioners will start the counting process by reconciling the ballot paper accounts on one of 24 desks spread out across a large reconciliation room, before the boxes are opened in the main counting hall (see separate story).

All votes, including the ballots cast in Gozo, will be counted at Naxxar. Votes cast in the local council elections will be counted next weekend.

The Naxxar counting centre is ringed by a security cordon mounted by the AFM and the police. Access has been limited to one point and all visitors are stopped at two checkpoints.