The sorting of the votes cast in the European Parliament elections has started at Naxxar counting centre after having been delayed by some 45 minutes.

The sorting process involves the assignment of the ballot papers according to the first preference given by the voters. That will give the political parties an indication of the outcome of the election.

The voting started across all the districts simultaneously, enabling the party agents to get a wide sample of the votes cast.

The process is being watched closely by party agents behind the perspex looking over the counters. The process is calm, except for the occasional banging on the perspex when a party agent does not clearly see a ballot paper. The data collected from behind the perspex is handed to other party agents who relay it to the party offices in Naxxar. The party teams are being led in the hall by Paul Borg Olivier and Jason Micallef, general secretaries of the PN and the PL respectively.

The counters have a major task - a total of 254,084 votes were cast yesterday and they have to be sorted among 34 candidates, a task made more difficult by the length of this year's ballot papers.

The parties are expected to have an indication of the result in about an hour. Still, two drinks stands have been set up outside PL headquarters. This is also a strong police presence. In contrast there are only three policemen outside PN headquarters.

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