These are the districts with the most uncollected voting documents

Almost 15,500 voters did not collect their voting documents by Thursday’s deadline, slightly more than in the 2022 election.

In total, 341,351 people collected their voting documents, with 15,481 left uncollected.

This means that at least 4.3% of eligible voters will not be casting their vote on Saturday.

In 2022, some 14,500 voting documents, a little under 4%, went uncollected.

Uncollected voting documents in 2022 rose sharply from the 2.4% registered in 2017. However, the voting population had changed drastically in 2022, with 16-year-olds eligible to vote for the first time in Malta’s history.

Unlike then, the overall number of eligible voters this year has remained largely unchanged compared to four years ago, rising by just 2,000 voters.

Almost a tenth of district 12 voting documents not collected

The district with the most uncollected votes is district 12 (St Paul’s Bay and Mellieħa), where 9.2% of eligible voters - 2,433 people - did not collect their document.

Other districts with relatively high numbers of uncollected voting documents include the typically PN-leaning districts 9 (San Ġwann, Swieqi, Msida and Għargħur) and 10 (Sliema, St Julian’s, Gżira and Pembroke).

In district 9, 1,444 voters did not collect their document. In district 10, this figure rose to 2,000.

All three registered a slightly higher rate of uncollected voting documents than in 2022, with district 9 in particular recording a rise from 4.8% last election to 5.3% this time around, a 0.5 percentage point increase.

More broadly, district 9 recorded one of the highest increases in uncollected documents, alongside districts 8 (Birkirkara, Lija and Balzan), 11 (Attard and Mosta) and 6 (Qormi, Siġġiewi and Luqa).

District 6 has the lowest rate of uncollected documents

District 6 remains the district with the lowest overall rate of uncollected documents, at just 2.5%, followed by districts 4 and 7.

In all three districts, the number of uncollected voting documents hovered around the 700 mark.

The only districts to record a drop in their share of uncollected voting documents were the Labour strongholds of districts 3 (Żejtun, Għaxaq and Marsaxlokk) and 4 (Paola, Tarxien and Gudja), as well as district 13 (Gozo).

More votes collected in Gozo compared to 2022

Gozo has seen its share of uncollected documents dip from 4.7% in 2022 to 4.4% this time around.

In total, 1,394 Gozitans opted not to collect their voting document.

Gozo is one of just two districts, along with district 4, where electoral boundaries have remained unchanged since 2022.

The remaining 11 districts all had their boundaries slightly rejigged last year.