Malta goes to the polls today with 314,364 registered voters - bar those who failed to collect their voting document - having the right to choose from 169 candidates to elect a 65-member Parliament for the next five years.
Apart from the general election, local elections are also being held in 23 localities in Malta and Gozo.
The total number of registered voters this time round is 20,258 higher than five years ago.
By midnight on Thursday, the deadline for the collection of voting documents, 5,266 voting documents (1.68 per cent of the total) remained uncollected. The percentage of uncollected voting documents five years ago stood at 0.81 per cent, as against 0.66 per cent in 1998.
Of the 169 candidates contesting the general election, 76 are for the Nationalist Party, 70 are on behalf of the MLP, nine are running on an Alternattiva Demokratika ticket, nine for Azzjoni Nazzjonali, and five are independent candidates.
The PN started the election campaign with 77 candidates but one, Albert Rizzo, who would have contested the ninth district, passed away on February 28.
Some candidates will be contesting more than one district bringing the number of nominations up to 259: 112 for the PN, 102 for the MLP, 16 for AD, 21 for AN and eight independent.
Three former PN candidates are standing with other parties: Marlene Pullicino is running on an MLP ticket on the fifth and seventh districts; Carmel Cacopardo for AD on the third and 11th districts and Josie Muscat, a former Nationalist MP, for AN as its leader on the second and third districts.
The longest ballot paper is in the ninth district, being contested by 28 candidates: 15 for the PN, eight for the MLP, two for AN, one for AD and two independents. The shortest is in the sixth, being contested by 14 candidates: Six each for the PN and MLP and one each by AN and AD.
PN leader Lawrence Gonzi is contesting the second and ninth districts, Labour leader Alfred Sant the first and the eighth and AD chairman Harry Vassallo the eighth and the 10th.
This election is also being contested by 19 women, two fewer than in 2003 and four fewer than in 1998, when a record 23 women contested. The PN has fielded 11 female candidates, Labour seven and AN one.
Polling stations open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. There are 565 polling booths.
The Electoral Commission warned yesterday that anyone who impeded or prevented the free exercise of an elector's right to vote in the general and local elections would be breaking the law.
Voters going abroad today would be allowed to skip the queue to vote. They will have to produce their flight or sea tickets to the police officer in charge at the polling centre.
For the first time, the sorting and counting of votes will take place at the Trade Fair Grounds, in Naxxar. Votes had been counted at Ta' Qali since 1987 but the area has now been sold to the US government for the building of an embassy.
Assistant electoral commissioners and reserve staff - about 4,000 in all - cast their vote yesterday in Naxxar at a purposely-set up polling booth with 13 ballot boxes, one for each district.
Ballot boxes will start being opened the moment they arrive at Naxxar tonight. The sorting of the ballot papers - when the first preference votes are distributed in the pigeon holes showing the candidates' names - is not expected to start before 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.
The first indication of the result is expected at about 11.30 a.m., but it is most unlikely for the official result to be issued before late afternoon.
The turnout in 2003 was 96.9 per cent, 0.3 per cent lower than the record turnout in 1996 and 55 per cent more than the lowest turnout in 1945.
Malta uses a proportional vote system by means of a single transferable vote. The system was first introduced in 1921 when the country was granted its first self-government Constitution.
Seat allocation is based on first count votes with five persons elected in each of the 13 districts, bringing the total number of MPs to 65.
If a party gets an absolute majority (50 per cent plus one) of votes but a minority of seats, it will be credited extra seats to reflect its votes. This will also happen if a party gets a relative majority (less than 50 per cent) provided only candidates from two parties are elected. If more than two parties elect candidates, no additional seats will be added to any party.
The use of mobile phones, cameras or other photographic equipment is prohibited in polling places during voting time today. Anyone taking photographs or video without authorisation will have the equipment confiscated, the Electoral Commission warned.