24,352 voting documents for the referendum and 35,305 for the local council elections remained uncollected last night, with the deadline for collection being Thursday at midnight, officials of the Electoral Commission said today.

338,447 people are eligible to vote, meaning a turnout of 169,224 people is needed for the referendum to be valid.

The officials said the referendum votes will be counted first, starting with the sorting process at 9am on Sunday.

The votes cast in the elections for half of the councils in Malta and Gozo will follow on the following Saturday. Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Church said the incidents which had taken place during early voting on Saturday were seen as 'mistakes' rather than malicious intent.

In one incident, a man who was not entitled to vote at Sa Maison home for the elderly was still able to vote. It transpired that this person was a resident in the home and had a valid voting document, but since he moved in after the deadline, he was only eligible to vote in his hometown. He will now not vote on Saturday.

In the other case, a man eligible for early voting was handed a ballot paper for the  Sta Lucija local council election instead of Paola and still voted.