A quarter of the voting documents for the March local elections were undelivered after the door-to-door delivery campaign ended last week, with the major parties admitting this was higher than in previous years.
With 51,453 undelivered voting documents, amounting to 27 per cent of eligible voters, officials from both parties told TheTimes yesterday that whencompared to previous localelections, the number was“substantially higher”.
According to the October electoral register, on which the March elections will be based, there are 192,257 eligible voters in the 35 localities, including foreigners who are entitled to vote.
Speaking over the weekend, Nationalist Party leader Lawrence Gonzi and his Labour counterpart Joseph Muscat urged residents to pick up their voting documents, without which they will not be able to vote.
But much as the fear of high voter abstention was evidentin the words of the twoparty leaders, PN officials seemed more worried.
Jean Pierre Debono, thePN assistant general secretary,told The Times that the number of undelivered documentsin key PN-leaning localitieswas substantially higherthan in Labour-leaning towns and villages.
From the 17 councils currently controlled by the PN, headded, there were eight wherethe percentage of undelivered documents surpassed the national average by a wide margin.
“The PN is at a disadvantage,” Mr Debono said, addingthat from the 17 Labour-led councils only three had a percentage of undelivered voting documents higher than the national average.
Sliema, a PN stronghold, had the highest percentage at 58per cent.
Mr Debono said the PN had objected with the Electoral Commission because in Sliema the door-to-door delivery only lasted one week, as opposed to two in other localities, since the election writ was published late.
“The Commission accepted our argument and in Sliema the door-to-door delivery has resumed,” he said, adding that documents will continue being distributed until Monday.
Political parties fear people will be less inclined to bother collecting their voting document from their locality’s police station or in the case of Iklin and Swieqi, the local council office.
Labour Party president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi was reluctant to draw any conclusions atthis stage.
“We need to raise awareness that people need the voting document to be able to vote but more than that it is premature tointerpret the numbers at hand,” he said, preferring to see whether people did actually go topick up their document in the coming days.
The door-to-door delivery system is considered crucial by the parties, but according to Mr Debono the PN was unhappy with how it worked.
Although the police kept knocking on doors until 8 p.m., he added, this was not convenient for some, such as those who worked in retail outlets.
He also complained that in a particular case in Sliema a policeman only delivered 21 voting documents in one day.
“People need the voting document to exercise their right to vote and we must do everything to have this delivered to them.”
Where can I collect my vote?
From tomorrow people can collect their voting document in person from the local police station or in the case of Iklin and Swieqi, the local council office
Voting documents can be collected between 3 and 8 p.m., from Monday to Friday and between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
After March 3, uncollected voting documents will be transferred to the Electoral Commission’s office in Valletta and voters will be able to pick them up until midnight on March 8.
The identity card must be shown when collecting the voting document.
Top 10 localities with undelivered documents
Sliema (PN) - 58%.
St Paul’s Bay (PN) - 55%.
Żebbuġ, Gozo (PN) - 53%.
St Julian’s (PN) - 45%.
Swieqi (PN) - 38%.
Gżira (PL) - 37%.
Munxar (PN) - 35%.
Xagħra (PL) - 30%.
Għajnsielem (PN) - 30%.
Birżebbuġa (PL) - 29%.