Over 19,000 votes still uncollected
Preliminary results expected on Sunday afternoon
Six per cent of the voting documents for Saturday's European Parliament election have not yet been collected, almost double that of 2004.
Of the 320,330 Maltese and 2,103 foreign voters, 303,134 votes were collected and delivered, leaving 19,301 uncollected, according to Chief Electoral Commissioner Edward Gatt.
In the first EP elections in 2004, 10,134 of the 304,283 eligible votes were not collected. Although there are more eligible voters this time, six per cent of the documents were still unclaimed when compared to 3.3 per cent in 2004.
A total 7,508 votes remain uncollected in the case of the local council elections where 132,859 documents were issued.
Voters have until today at midnight to pick up their documents from the Electoral Commission, in Valletta. The majority of the uncollected documents belong to residents of the northern part of Malta.
During last Saturday's early voting, 1,044 of 1,072 eligible people cast their vote for the EP election and 450 out of 463 cast their vote for the local council election.
Voting on Saturday takes place between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. When the polls close, the boxes will be taken to Naxxar and counting will start on Sunday at noon. Counting will not start earlier in order to ensure that no results are issued before the voting closes in the rest of the EU countries.
Preliminary results showing which political party won the majority of the five seats up for grabs, and the sixth seat, which will be confirmed once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, are expected on Sunday afternoon.
The official results with the final votes are likely to be announced on Tuesday.
Last week's early voting took place for the first time after a law was passed to allow eligible voters who declare they will be away on polling day during general, local or European Parliament elections to vote the previous Saturday. The law followed a call by the Malta Olympic Committee to make arrangements for the Maltese contingent taking part in the Small Nations Games in Cyprus to be able to vote before their departure.
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c.micallef
Jun 4th 2009, 20:46
Can anyone tell me if gozitans can collect their voting doc from Malta?
Julian Zarb
Jun 4th 2009, 16:52
A good comment and question by Mr. Calleja. It is one where we need to consider the options using a cost-benefit analysis method - if we had not joined the EU, for an island with few resources, we stand to have lost alot - starting with the right environment for investment, the value of the local lira and the opportunities for developing a trained workforce....these are enough benefits that I consider could outweigh the costs of entering the EU - we have three very obvious case studies in front of us today, countries who had tried to postpone or even avoid membership of the EU or even were sceptical about theis Union - Iceland, Switzerland and now the UK..countries with more resources than we have....if we do not make the right choices on saturday we could stand to lose more......
ACalleja
Jun 4th 2009, 15:40
Quote from José Manuel Barroso article in yesterday’s TimesOfMalta "The second reason why your vote is so important is because the European Parliament is poised to become an even more powerful actor in the governance of Europe if, as I firmly hope, the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and enters into force over the coming months."
What difference will it make when it comes to a vote whether we get six representatives instead of five? Why don’t the local politicians enlighten us on what Malta stands to gain besides providing someone with another comfortable seat?
If the Lisbon Treaty gets ratified we risk governance by federal law from an extremely powerful body whose major representations belong to the big euro-nations. These do not even realize the exceptional idiosyncrasies and circumstances that one has to consider when taking into account the impact of blanket legislation on a small island state. It is true that a lot of effort is being made by local representatives to highlight and rectify such instances but it has always proved an uphill task.
I believe that this point is another major contributing factor resulting in disenchantment and indifference being shown by people not wanting to vote.
L Caruana
Jun 4th 2009, 15:17
"Voters have until today at midnight to pick up their documents from the Electoral Commission, in Valletta"
So how can Airmalta and The Electoral Commission explain the fact that there are voters coming from abroad in the early hours of Friday 5th June, they are coming with just Eur 35 in order to vote when they can't even collect their voting document, as the closing time is Thursday until midnight ????
Is anyone responsible for this as afterall the subsidised airline ticket is paid from our taxes.
Can anyone at least make sure that whoever is coming to Malta (with this special offer) collect his voting document on time
r ferriggi
Jun 4th 2009, 13:39
To Mr I galea
GOD FORBID had we not joined EU ( with all its good and bad).
do you realise what you are saying!??!
you even had the Icelandic PM spelling it out clearly to you!! who more do you need to hear to stop this line of thinking forever??
you are probably one of the few few left who do not admit ( deep down at least) that your reasoning is wrong!! it is so clear!!
Sandro Cremona
Jun 4th 2009, 11:58
I do not think that we should blame the voters with their apathy for not collecting their vote. This is not apathy, the people are realising that to choose the bad from the worse party, or the worse from the worst, one would be better off not bothering at all. Its not that the voter is not interested, its the candidates that show so much interest and promises. (its always the other party that is not saying the truth). A full swing campaign with promises that will last four to five weeks till saturday, election day. Once the results are out, goodbye promises and voter, "we shall meet again in three or four years time, by then I should be needing you again".
Julian Zarb
Jun 4th 2009, 11:24
Mr. Galea, I do not think that I know you, but your sweeping statements against the EU certainly do little to inspire one to vote. What I thought we could start here is a discussion as to how to get people working together to make this a better destination and a better place to live through the EU Benefits and opportunities and not some political hussle that most definitly leads nowhere! Can I have some constructive comments then? Thanks again
Nigel Lawrence
Jun 4th 2009, 11:15
Maybe this is a continuing sign of the disdain many of us hold for politicians.
lgalea
Jun 4th 2009, 11:06
Why don't you blame the eu with its one-size-fits-all policies which is destroying industries in every eu member country as we are experiencing here ourselves and as a protest by the people who are showing that they are not interested in the united states of europe project that the federalists and their lackeys want to shove down peoples throats?
Julian Zarb
Jun 4th 2009, 10:06
Voter apathy is something we have to live with and which is predominant in much of the EU - I am not saying we have to make excuses for this apathy or condone it, I am saying that it goes to show what levels of civic irresponsibility and a total lack of pride there is today. Perhaps it is the effect of the consumerist lifestyle? Perhaps even it is the effect of the media? Whatever it is, I ask one simple question: Do we really want to lose our identity, culture and character? Because if we mimic the trends we read about and see in other countries and think it an act of boldness to stay away from the ballot boxes, that is simply what we are doing! This idea of feeling hurt, or feeling a sense of apathy towards politics and of locking ourselves inside our homes will certainly do one thing for us - it will turn us into an insular race, reduce our sense of hospitality, crush our aptitude to service and in a few words.....make us one of the most unattractive tourism destinations around...