Election result should be nullified if claims are confirmed, MP says

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.