Over 10,000 voting documents unclaimed

Malta goes to its third major poll in 15 months today, as the electorate selects its first European Parliament representatives.

Residents from 22 localities will also decide whom to elect onto their local councils.

For today's European elections, over 294,000 individuals are eligible to vote. A total of 10,136 voting documents remained unclaimed, substantially higher than the 2,261 that remained uncollected for last year's general election. The largest number of unclaimed votes was in the 10th district (1,540) and the 12th (1,910).

The electoral campaign was wrapped up at midnight on Thursday with both the Nationalist and Labour parties' media plugging their candidates until the final minute. The electorate was left to "reflect" yesterday, with the political parties, candidates and media barred from reporting about the elections.

Nearly 350 million EU citizens are eligible to cast ballots in the elections, which will send 732 representatives to the legislative assembly for a five-year term.

Of the 25 EU countries so far, only the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland have gone to the polls, while Latvia and Italy join Malta today. The rest will vote tomorrow.

The European Commission has ordered an embargo on results across the EU until all voting is completed tomorrow, saying early results might sway those who have yet to cast ballots.

But the Dutch released provisional results on Thursday, prompting a threat of legal action from the European Commission.

Polling booths for today's vote in Malta will be open between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Assistant commissioners cast their vote yesterday.

The counting of votes in the European Parliament elections will be a long and complicated process particularly because of the large quotas needed to determine who gets elected and, consequently, a ballot paper that is almost a metre long. A total of 27 candidates are vying for the five seats allotted to Malta in the European Parliament.

The elections are unusual because both Malta and Gozo will be considered as one district.

The first boxes are expected to arrive at the Ta' Qali counting hall at about 11.30 p.m. today. Counting is not expected to start before tomorrow at noon and an official result of the first count votes will not be known before at least 10 p.m.

The political parties in Malta are expected to have a good indication of the first count votes by about 3 p.m. tomorrow.

However, arriving at the names of the five candidates to represent Malta could drag on until Wednesday or even Thursday.

Candidates will need a quota of between 34,000 and 38,000 votes to get elected, depending on the turnout. In practice, candidates who do not reach the required quota on the first count will inherit votes according to the single transferable vote system. A number of recounts will have to be made to determine who will inherit the subsequent preferences.

The counting of votes for the 22 local council elections will start next Saturday at 8 a.m.

Council elections are taking place in Attard, Birzebbuga, Floriana, Gharghur, Gzira, Hamrun, Kercem, Luqa, Marsaxlokk, Mosta, Munxar, Paola, Qala, Qormi, Safi, San Lawrenz, Sta Lucija, Siggiewi, Swieqi, Vittoriosa, Xaghra and Zebbug.

A total of 237 candidates are contesting.

The electoral commission said 3,848 local council voting documents remained unclaimed.

The Department of Information will be publishing the official results of both elections on its website at http://www.doi.gov.mt.