Malta heads to the polls today in the 11th general election since Independence.

Polling stations opened at 7am and will close at 10pm, bringing to an end the second longest election campaign since 1987.

There are 326,483 electors who have a right to vote today after 6,523 voting documents remained uncollected by midnight on Thursday.

Five years ago 5,266 voting documents were not collected. Voting got under way last week when more than 2,000 electors, who were going to be abroad on election day, obtained special permission to cast their ballot early. Patients who were admitted to hospital before Tuesday and residents at homes for the elderly voted yesterday. Hospital patients admitted to hospital after Tuesday will have to vote today at the polling stations where they are registered. Voters will choose between 269 candidates from the three political parties and three independent candidates.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is expected to vote in his hometown Marsascala and Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat will cast his ballot in Burmarrad. Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio will do so in Sliema. This will be Dr Gonzi’s second general election at the helm of the Nationalist Party and Dr Muscat’s first since being elected Labour leader in 2008.

This is also the first election as chairman for Mr Briguglio. The Nationalist and Labour parties held their last mass meetings on Thursday accompanied by marathon television transmissions on Net TV and One, their respective stations, to close off the political campaigns.

The meetings could not be reported by the media because, by law, yesterday and today are days of reflection and politicking is not possible although this was flouted openly on the internet. This break gave voters some respite from the intense campaigning that started after Parliament was dissolved on January 7.

Polling is being held almost five years to the day since the last election returned the PN to government by a whisker. After polling places close tonight, the attention will shift to the Naxxar counting hall where ballot boxes are opened and votes grouped in packets of 50. The sorting process when ballots are turned face up and sorted according to the first preference is expected to start tomorrow at 11am.

If the result is clear-cut, the political parties will be able to project the winner soon after the sorting process starts. It may take longer if the result is close as the case had been five years ago. ksansone@timesofmalta.com