Maltese voters overseas have overwhelmed Air Malta with applications for its subsidised election scheme, creating a logistical nightmare for the national airline.
Over 1,200 people have already booked a seat to ensure they can vote in the March 8 election, after Air Malta announced it would be selling return air tickets at €35 (Lm15.03), inclusive of taxes and other charges, to those who are eligible to vote.
Under the scheme, eligible voters may fly between February 29 and March 16, both days included. It covers Maltese married to foreigners, studying, working or undergoing medical treatment abroad, as well as their dependants.
Over 3,000 Maltese citizens living abroad are entitled to vote in the general election. With three weeks to go, the number of applicants has already equalled the figure of voters based overseas who came to vote in the 2003 EU referendum.
A total of 800 had applied for the scheme in the 2004 MEP election. However, despite adding a flight from Brussels and Gatwick and introducing a route to Luxembourg and Dublin, Air Malta is struggling to cope with demand.
A number of people who applied for the scheme - especially from Belgium and the UK - were told that flights were fully booked and that they would have to choose alternative dates. Due to vacation leave restraints, several of the applicants want to fly to Malta on the eve of the election, and leave the next day, thus creating a bottleneck. Air Malta cannot obtain more slots from busy airports like Heathrow and is trying to work around the schedule with limited aircraft, a spokesman explained.
The problem has once again prompted protests from people living overseas, who say it is absurd that they have to cast their vote in Malta, rather than being able to do so from overseas - as several other European countries do.
One individual posting a comment on the timesofmalta.com website said: "How is it that the thousands of American troops serving overseas manage to mail their ballot in but we still must take time off work or from our studies to go to vote?"
While some also demanded compensation for rail and bus expenses, others living in countries as far as Ethiopia and Canada asked whether any authorities were prepared to help them do their duty.
Reservations can be made at Air Malta offices and the airline's general sales agents abroad, the Air Malta sales offices in Valletta, Malta International Airport and Gozo, or by calling 2166 2211.