The number of those who would vote no in the upcoming referendum had dwindled to 19.2 per cent, according to a Xarabank survey published yesterday.

On the other hand, 51.9 per cent of respondents said they would vote in favour of accession.

It is the second time in a series of four surveys on the EU that the yes vote has won an absolute majority.

However, a relatively high 26.4 per cent said they were still undecided.

Those who said they would not vote in such a referendum were 2.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent said they would invalidate the vote.

The survey was carried out via telephone interviews between February 5-10 among a sample of 1,204 and the results were announced during the popular talk-show last night.

If one were to compare the survey with last month's results, it emerges that the yes vote has declined by nearly one percentage point.

Compared with last month's survey, the no vote dropped by a high 4.7 percentage points from 23.9 per cent to 19.2 per cent. On the other hand, the undecided increased from 17.5 per cent in January to 26.4 per cent - a net increase of almost nine percentage points.

Those who said they would not vote went down from 5.5 per cent in January to 2.4 per cent this month.

When asked what type of relationship Malta should have with the EU, 53.1 per cent of the respondents replied "membership" and 19.4 per cent said "partnership". Just over a quarter said they were undecided.