A doctor running for office on the ADPD ticket has shared a photo of his bruised elderly mother, to motivate people to get out and vote before polling stations close at 10pm.

ADPD candidate Anthony Buttigieg said that if his 84-year-old mother could cast her vote in her condition, then “the naysayers and disgruntled should get off their arses” and do so too. 

Buttigieg’s mother hurt herself on Friday in a fall in which she bumped her head, he said, and insisted on voting despite her condition. 

Buttigieg, who formerly led Partit Demokratiku before it merged with Alternattiva Demokratika to become ADPD, is running as a candidate on districts 1 and 10. 

He said that his mother, who is a paid-up member of the Nationalist Party, had been helped by representatives of his district 1 rival Paula Mifsud Bonnici (PN) to get to the polling station. Buttigieg thanked Mifsud Bonnici’s team for their help.

“The point of my post is that if she could do it in her condition, the naysayers and disgruntled should get off their arses in the next 80 minutes and vote for change, whatever their idea of change is,” he wrote. 

“Otherwise, in the next five years, do not bother to complain.” 

Voting turnout until 2pm was markedly lower than in previous general elections, data released by the electoral commission revealed.

The commission originally said that just 40.45% of votes had been cast by 2pm, but later revised the figure up to 44.75% after it acknowledged that its earlier calculation had not included votes cast in early voting sessions. 

Voting closes at 10pm.