Labour fields just 10 candidates for hamlet elections in March

The Labour Party has fielded just 10 of the 53 candidates contesting the forthcoming elections for administrative committees at hamlets.

A spokesman said the party believed the committees should be an expression of the will of residents rather than a pretext for more partisan rivalry.

"We remain of the firm belief that these elections should be an expression of the residents and not an excuse for politically-charged elections," the spokesman said, adding that for this reason it would not be holding a campaign on a national level but was meeting residents individually.

The mini-council elections will be held on March 27 at Kappara, Paceville, Madliena, Fleur-de-Lys, Bubaqra, Marsalforn and Xlendi. Five candidates have to be elected in each hamlet.

The Nationalist Party will have 36 candidates and there will be seven independent candidates.

Sta Luċija, in Gozo, is the only hamlet where all five candidates are independent. The election there will not be held because the number of candidates equals the number of seats.

Residents of hamlets where the elections would be held could vote a week before if they would be travelling on polling day, the Electoral Commission said.

Travellers will be able to vote on March 20 after declaring on oath that they will be abroad. This declaration can be made at the Office of the Electoral Commission in Valletta or at the Identity Cards Office in Victoria, by March 19.

Another six hamlets will hold their elections later on in the year.

Earlier this year, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said announced that a number of localities would have administrative committees directly elected by the people who lived there.

The idea is that such localities, which are somewhat cut off from the towns or villages they fall under, will be better able to meet their own particular needs.