A number of people have contacted The Sunday Times reporting cases of people changing the address on their identity card in order to vote in a particular electoral district.

The reports follow a story published in The Times on Friday which highlighted similar accusations made by former Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia against supporters of newly-elected PN MP Claudio Grech.

Zebbug mayor Alfred Grixti told The Sunday Times that during the distribution of voting documents in his village he discovered that a woman living in Mellieha listed her ID card address as the Zebbug council offices.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when the police knocked on the council’s door to give us a voting document for a woman ‘living’ in the offices of our local council.

“I told police that this was the office of the local council and no one actually lived there,” he said.

Following Mr Grixti’s enquiries, it emerged that the woman actually lived with her husband and children in Mellieha and used the council’s address to enable her vote in the Zebbug district.

He said that he took the matter even more seriously when after contacting the woman it emerged she was aware of the situation.

“When I called her to check whether this was a mistake she just told me that she knew about it and asked me when she could come to pick up the vote!” the astonished mayor said.

After reporting the case to police and the Electoral Commission, the woman had to change her ID card again to her correct address.

Mr Grixti said he wanted to highlight this case to show that Mr Grech and his supporters – although fully aware of what they were doing – used a system which has been abused for years.

“This example highlights the need for a radical change in the system where citizens should provide proof of residence when ID cards are issued,” he insisted.

The law stipulates that the address on an ID card should be the one where the holder sleeps at night. However, the authorities have no way of verifying the details.

A 41-year-old man from Naxxar told The Sunday Times that when he recently went to the ID cards office after losing his card, the official merely asked which address he wished to place on the new document.

“I could have fabricated an address or given someone else’s. It’s that simple,” he said.

A change to the ID cards system has been in the pipeline for years and almost all existing ID cards have expired.

A few months before the election, Godwin Grima, Principal Permanent Secretary, had decided to once again postpone the nationwide renewal of ID cards until after the election.

The new high-tech cards, when they are finally issued, will include a chip which can be used to access anything from health records to banking information

Labour, then in Opposition, had criticised the decision and accused the Government of dragging its feet for electoral purposes.

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