Updated at 7pm with PL statement

The Labour Party is not registered as a political party in line with party financing legislation, the Electoral Commission said today.

It said in a statement that the registered political parties are Alternattiva Demokratika, the Moviment Patrijotti Maltin, the Democratic Party and the Nationalist Party.

The commission said the Labour Party had applied to be registered within the stipulated time but the part of its statute was not according to law so the commission asked it to rectify the situation.

It was now waiting for an amended statute which conformed to the law.

The Times of Malta had reported about the situation in November. The PL had then told the commission it would make the necessary amendments during a general conference.

It said that reports of the donations received by the four parties registered last year were submitted to the commission within the time established by law. These reports would be made public following the publication of a regulation stipulating the time and format.

PL caught in another lie - PN

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said the Labour Party had been caught in another lie.

The commission had confirmed that the PL had breached party financing legislation by not registering as a political party. It also  confirmed it was not true that the PL had registered temporarily as this was not permitted by law.

The PL was also in breach of the law because it had not presented the list of donations received and paid party officials from the people’s taxes when this could not be done.

PL's reply

In a reply, the Labour Party said that what the Electoral Commission could not say was that any of its officials were paid by businessmen, as was the case with Nationalist Party.