Sunday, 30th March 2008
Election result should be nullified if claims are confirmed, MP says
'Farrugia doing this for political mileage' - Saliba
The March 8 election result should be nullified if police confirm reports that the Nationalists had offered money for votes, Labour MP Anġlu Farrugia yesterday said as he made fresh claims of receiving more information on malpractice.
However, Labour's general secretary Jason Micallef said the issue had not been discussed by the party and "is not on the agenda".
Mr Micallef said it was too early to say what course of action the MLP would take if the claims were confirmed. But he believed Dr Farrugia was taking the initiative as a responsible citizen even though he was acting independently of the party.
Dr Farrugia last Friday presented the Police Commissioner with a three-page report to establish whether votes "were bought" by Nationalists ahead of the election.
Dr Farrugia said when contacted yesterday that he was in contact with the European Commission and the OSCE over the issue. Although Dr Farrugia is pressing his case, he conceded that proof of irregularity would give rise to a political issue rather than a legal one.
The Constitution states that the Constitutional Court may annul an election result if illegal or corrupt practices have affected the result, but a complaint by an individual must be made not later than three days after the result.
Dr Farrugia was yesterday still reluctant to reveal the names contained within his report to police, though he claimed that hundreds of votes were tampered with, possibly enough to sway the election in favour of the Nationalists. The PN won a third successive term in Government by a wafer-thin majority of 1,580 votes.
"After I went to the Police Commissioner on Friday I received more information about attempts to buy votes. This morning I received information from overseas, which I have to compile and which I will forward to police to investigate," the 52-year-old lawyer told The Sunday Times.
"I told them how they can get to the information from the documentation I had from different sources, including government departments and authorities," he said yesterday.
Dr Farrugia, a former police inspector, said there were various ways in which votes could be bought. One way was to promise a vote to a candidate and the voter would then take a picture of the ballot sheet with a mobile phone.
Dr Farrugia, who is an international election observer, said there were instances where such practices led to the nullification of an election. During overseas elections, one complaint of a corrupt practice is enough to trigger off scrutiny.
He expressed disappointment that the Government never sanctioned the presence of international observers for the general election, as he had suggested in 2003.
He felt it was his duty as a citizen and as a representative of the people in Parliament to draw up the report after he had been approached over such allegations.
Dr Farrugia shot down claims that he was making such sensational allegations in view of his apparent interest in contesting the post of Labour leader on June 5. "I am simply exercising my duty. On the contrary, some of those contesting the post have called me asking if they can assist me in any way. Besides, I have not yet decided if I will contest."
"I'm not doing this because I'm a bad loser. If the PN deserves the election, then let it have it, but I have this information in hand."
Is he prepared to shoulder the political responsibility if the claims prove to be false?
"I shoulder the responsibility of the people who came forward. I'm acting as the messenger. I took the case in my possession because people were scared to approach the police with the information they had. I'm acting responsibly," he said.
PN general secretary Joe Saliba is clearly unconcerned by the allegations. "I am not taking his claims seriously - parties do not buy votes and it is farcical to implicate two ministers in all of this. I have no doubt that he is doing this for political mileage," he said, when contacted.
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Comments
Henry Ford
An ounce of hypocracy is worth a pound of ambition.
Michael Korda
Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
John Kenneth Galbraith
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought neccessary.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Why don't you blame Dr. Gonzi if you are caught speeding? After all, the new smooth roads built by the NP government, can tempt you to speed! You can even blame Dr. Gonzi for the Naxxar tragedy, because he should personally have ensured that no illegal fireworks are manufactured and stored in a residential area!
Dr. Gonzi would only have to answer your question had he sent thugs threathening voters on their way in to the polling station if they did not vote NP. Does that not ring a (distant) bell?
In the article, it is said that if what Dr Farrugia claims is true and there would be proof of irregularity, this would give rise to a political issue rather than a legal one. What would Dr Gonzi do then? Will he still stay in government while knowing that the election was tampered with?
The Labour Party had, in 1987 bought 8000 votes + , by giving 8000 government jobs that eventually cost the national coffers, meaning my pocket, some Lm 400,000,000.
Can someone please give this kid a lollipop?
Mr.Taliana its as simple as ABC.......either you believe Dr.Farriuga's claims and give them the right weight or you don't find them credible ( like the MLP).........I hope he doesn't expect us not to mention Dr.Sant's tenure as Leader of the MLP just in case we step on someone's toes and hurt somebody's feeling!!
This is very serious to the whole Nation !
1) For the past 5 years all Labour supporters were driven to believe that from day one after the PN victory in 2003, whenever the election came it will be won by MLP .
2) This was done by all MLP media .
3) Interpretations of Local council elections.
4)Surveys saying ONE TV has the most audience therefore the majority is with Labour. - False interpretation again.
5) During all pre-election meeting speechs - supporters were lead to believe that a victory was certain , the only question was by how much?
6) Words like: 'Next Monday when Dr. Sant goes up the stairs of Castille' etc:
7) On Sunday (vote counting) morning on PBS a pro labour spokesperson said something like the victory for MLP is there - one only has to wait a bit more to confirm it.
All these episodes made the Labour supporters very angry and disappointed to say the least when the result became official. What do you expect ?
These are people who have feelings.
In my opinion it is unfair now on these same supporters to justify an election defeat by picking on virtually anything which could instill doubt on the result.
The result is confirmed as all election results are.
The voting system here is so strict that no one would dare do any wrong doing INSIDE a polling booth.
The only person I heard telling his guests before the election 'Inzommu saqajna ma l-art ' was Norman Hamilton in his programme on ONE TV.
I have another question to ask: What if it turns out that Labour supporters had offered Nationalist money for votes, as has happened in Gozo? Should the election results also be nullified according to Hon Farrugia?
Also, if it is true that Hon Farrugia was acting as a ‘responsible citizen’, why did he not give his information to the police in private so that the police could carry their investigation without the risk of evidence being contaminated due to the public focus? It is difficult to believe that Hon Farrugia was not attempting to gain some sort of political mileage from this issue.