The public is less likely to file a complaint about a public entity during an election year, the Ombudsman has said, suggesting voters prefer to let their vote do the talking before resorting to official channels for redress. 

In its annual report for 2020, published on Tuesday, the Office of the Ombudsman said that, whenever a general election approaches, a decline in complaints and requests for investigations is registered. 

The trend is then reversed in the years immediately after a general election is held, the report says. 

“This phenomenon is attributed to the post-election euphoria, which sees many citizens seeking direct access to the government to seek redress,” the report reads.  

Ombudsman Anthony Mifsud is an independent public official who receives complaints about injustices and maladministration from the public against government agencies, officials, or employees.

The Office of the Ombudsman has the power to investigate any of these public entities and can openly criticise them or recommend corrective actions be taken. 

Election data stretches back to 1998

His full annual report for 2020 can be read in the PDF at the bottom of this article. 

Providing data that stretches back to the 1998 election, the office’s latest annual report shows how, on average, the number of complaints filed with the ombudsman drops by around 15 per cent in an election year.  

The greatest drop, 20 per cent, came in 2013, the year Joseph Muscat’s Labour Party toppled the Lawrence Gonzi Nationalist Party administration.  

Just one year later, in 2014, the number of complaints shot up by nearly a quarter.  

Who do people complain about?

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) topped the list of ministries that attracted the largest number of complaints. 

From the 245 cases received by the Ombudsman in 2020, 31 cases (13%) were against a department or authority which falls under the OPM. 

Of the 31 cases received, 20 (65%) were investigated involving the department concerned and the remaining 11 (35%) were investigated without the involvement of the department or authority concerned.

The Home Affairs Ministry and the departments under its portfolio attracted the second-largest number of complaints received, with 27 reports in 2020. 

And, in third place, the Ministry for Energy and Water Management was the subject of 20 complaints. 

Of these, 17 (85%) were investigated, and the remaining 3 (15%) were seen without the need of involving the department/entity concerned. 

The report says that 65% of the complaints received were related to billing issues against ARMS Ltd. 

What happens to investigations? 

The report says that 80 of the cases flagged to the Ombudsman were sustained last year. 

The office came up with recommendations for the entities under review. But only around half of these were taken on board, the report reads.  

Meanwhile, the report says that, as a direct result of the COVID-19 situation, the Ombudsman experienced a substantial decline in its caseload of incoming complaints when compared to the previous year. 

It also experienced a similar decline in the number of enquiries received. 

During 2019, the Ombudsman received 592 complaints.  This dropped to 503 last year.