Reversing the apathy trend

Voter participation across Europe may turn out to be higher than five years ago, according to the head of the European Parliament's Malta office, reversing the downward trend since the first EP election in 1979.

Julian Vassallo also anticipates that voter participation in Malta will "not be far" from the turnout of five years ago, when 82 per cent of eligible voters cast their vote.

Yet, a spokesman for the Electoral Commission still said that 16,764 voting documents remained uncollected until 5.30 p.m. yesterday. This is almost double the number of uncollected documents five years ago.

The collection of voting documents from the Electoral Office in Valletta closed at midnight.

Since Monday, when all voting documents were returned from police stations and local council offices to the Electoral Office, 3,812 documents were distributed.

"We have had indications over the past two weeks that there could be an upsurge in the turnout. On a pan-European level, the EP is expecting turnout to be about 49 per cent, four percentage points higher than five years ago," Dr Vassallo says.

Voting in some countries started yesterday and will continue throughout the weekend. Malta votes tomorrow.

Participation in European elections has dropped consistently since the first elections in 1979, when the turnout in the nine member states where elections were held topped 62 per cent. Voter apathy reached its lowest point at the turn of the millennium when, in the 1999 and 2004 elections, turnout dropped below 50 per cent. In 2004, only 45 per cent of voters bothered to cast their vote.

The turnout in Malta's first EP election five years ago was the third highest across Europe but substantially low by Maltese standards, where general elections have turnouts above 90 per cent.

Dr Vassallo acknowledges the lower interest in the EP elections but argues that this does not signify a lack of trust in the Parliament.

"The latest Eurobarometer survey shows that the Maltese trust the European Parliament much more than other domestic political institutions. Lower turnouts are a result of various factors," Dr Vassallo says.

He insists that the dismal pan-European turnout five years ago was still at par with the trend witnessed in general elections across Europe. "This is a negative trend across all western democracies, one we hope Malta will not follow," he adds.

The Netherlands and Britain were the first to go to the polls yesterday.

Voters will elect 736 members of the European Parliament from across the 27 member states.

The first results are expected on Sunday afternoon, the day the bulk of countries go to the polls. So as not to influence the outcome in other countries, ballot sorting at the Naxxar counting hall is only expected to start at noon on Sunday.

EP voting facts

• The first EP elections in 1979 were held in nine countries: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and the UK.

• From the original nine only Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy have registered consistently high turnouts throughout the years.

• This will be the seventh EP election and it will be held in 27 member states.

• The highest ever turnout was registered in Belgium in 1984 when 92 per cent of the electorate voted.

• The lowest ever turnout was registered in Slovakia in 2004 when just 17 per cent of the electorate bothered to vote.

Total EU turnout

1979 - 62 per cent (nine countries taking part)

1984 - 59 per cent (10 countries)

1989 - 58.4 per cent (12 countries)

1994 - 56.7 per cent (12 countries)

1999 - 49.5 per cent (15 countries)

2004 - 45.5 per cent (25 countries)

2009 - ? per cent (27 countries)

ksansone@timesofmalta.com