The first results of last Saturday’s local council elections are expected to be known earlier than originally planned, as the counting process is scheduled to start at 6am instead of 8am.
Though Louis Gatt, head of Labour’s electoral office, said the proposal to start the counting process earlier came from the Office of the Prime Minister, Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Church said it was his suggestion.
“We would like to gain some time in the process and that is why we are starting the counting process at 6am instead of 8am as originally planned,” Mr Church told Times of Malta.
“The process will surely take 24 to 27 hours to conclude and we wouldn’t like it to drag on too much into Sunday. That is why I made the suggestion to anticipate the counting process and the parties agreed to my proposal.”
Asked whether the proposal was made by the OPM in view of the possibility of Joseph Muscat having to travel over the weekend, Mr Church insisted it was his own idea.
We would like to gain some time in the process
“There was no official request by the OPM on this. At least, I didn’t receive any such request though I don’t know whether it was made to someone else,” he said.
The OPM denied making such a request.
Asked whether Dr Muscat had any overseas engagements this coming weekend, a spokesman said “the Prime Minister is not going to be abroad”.
Mr Gatt, however, said that the proposal came from the OPM in order to have a speedier result. “I have no idea whether the Prime Minister was planning to be abroad,” he said. “But I think the proposal came from the OPM and was discussed with us through the Electoral Commission.”
Mr Gatt said the original proposal was to have the counting process done during the week once the referendum votes were counted. He said that although this was feasible for the Labour Party, because the counting would have been split over two days, it was not technically possible even due to physical changes in the counting hall that had to be carried out by the Electoral Commission following the referendum counting process.
Matthew Mangion, the Nationalist Party’s electoral chief, confirmed that the Electoral Commission had asked to start the process earlier.
“Since many volunteers are involved in the counting process it was impossible to have their services during normal working hours,” Dr Mangion said. “That is why we objected to have the counting process held during the week but had no problem starting the counting a couple of hours earlier next Saturday.”
The counting process will involve the election of half of Malta’s local councils – 34 in all. An average of 68 per cent voted last Saturday, more than eight percentage points above the turnout three years ago.
In 2012, Labour won 55.6 per cent of the vote and the PN won 41.8 per cent.