Changes to 10 voting ­districts

The Electoral Commission has changed boundaries of 10 voting districts following the publication of the electoral register last April.

In a report to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, it said parts of Marsa, Sta Venera, Fgura, Mdina and Naxxar have been removed from one district and placed in another, in keeping with the Electoral Law that lays down that Gozo and Comino should be considered a single district with the rest of eligible voters divided into the other 12.

The law also lays down a maximum deviation of plus or minus five per cent from this average. Part of Marsa (823 voters) has been taken away from the fourth district and added to the first. Part of Sta Venera (1,057 voters) has been added to the first district and taken away from the eighth.

The third division has “lost” 1,495 voters in Fgura to the fourth; the 11th, 240 voters in Mdina to the seventh; while 1,520 voters in part of Naxxar have been transferred from the 12th district to the eighth.

The number of registered voters in Malta and Gozo is 326,493, including 27,127 in Gozo and Comino.

This means that the amount of voters in any of the 12 districts in Malta may range between 23,700 and 26,195.

The Electoral Commission pointed out that the first district is 654 voters short of the ­minimum; the third, 247 from the maximum; the fourth, 110 voters short of the minimum; the 11th, 132 voters short of the maximum; while the 12th has surpassed the maximum by 70 ­voters.