Uncollected votes at all time high in 12th District and Gozo

Mar 21 2022

The 12th district had the largest amount of uncollected or undelivered voting documents on Sunday when the distribution at the local level ended.

MaltaToday revealed that 12% of eligible voters in the 12th District had not received nor collected their document yet. The district, which includes the large locality of St Paul’s Bay, still has the lowest voter turnout historically.

3,398 voting documents from 28,243 remain uncollected. The district was followed by the 13th District, Gozo, with the amount of uncollected voting documents set at 11%. There were 3,310 voting documents that remain uncollected from 30,902.

The 10th and 9th districts came third and fourth respectively with 9% and 7% of documents uncollected. The districts are usually PN-leaning.

As for the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th districts, all majorly Labour, had the lowest shares of uncollected documents. It averaged between 3% and 4%. The 1st and 3rd districts had the higher shares at 6%.

The 6th District had only 848 voting documents uncollected, followed by the 5th district, where 909 were undelivered. In the 8th and 11th districts, 5% of voting documents remain uncollected. Overall, as of Sunday, 21,510 voting documents across Malta remained uncollected. This equates to 6% of eligible voters, reaching up to 355,024.

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Limit number of visitors to Comino proposes BirdLife ahead of election

Mar 21 2022

BirdLife Malta published 10 electoral requests ahead of the 26th of March election, one of which states that the government should introduce a limit on the number of visitors to Comino.

The NGO said that in order to reduce pressure on the island between Malta and Gozo, the number of visitors should be limited. ‘It is high time that this issue is tackled and solutions found in order to eliminate the degradation in certain parts of the island.’

The proposal was accompanied by other calls, including a call to have ODZ land treated s such and that no person or entity should be allowed to develop on such sites.

BirdLife Malta also highlighted a difference between ‘environment’ and ‘nature’. The NGO said that it is crucial to understand that while taking care of pavements, urban open spaces and sustainable development is necessary, it has nothing to do with nature.

The NGO said that natural habitats’ biodiversity need stronger conservation and protection. ‘We demand that bird protection is not removed from the rest of biodiversity, which is within the remit of the Environment Ministry and the Environment and Resources Authority.’

Apart from this, the NGO proposed an end of bird trapping, a stop to spring hunting, an establishment of no hunting zones, more green spaces set at schools as well as NGOs in Malta being given the possible opportunities to be involved in consultation and decision making when it comes to environment and nature related issues.

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36-year-old man hospitalised after car incident

Mar 21 2022

A 36-year-old man was hospitalised Monday morning after getting hit by a car in Triq is-Sur, Fgura.

Preliminary investigations showed that the man was hit by an Opel Insignia driven by a 36-year-old woman from Fgura at around 9:15am. The victim’s nationality is still to be identified.

The woman also hit a parked Toyota Aygo which was situated nearby. The man was administered first aid on the site of the accident before being taken to Mater Dei where he was certified for his injuries.

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PN calls to cancel illegal prisoner votes as some were ineligible

Mar 21 2022

The Opposition has called on the Electoral Commission to cancel voting which was held last Saturday at the prisons as part of the run-up for the general election.

The Nationalist Party said that several prisoners appeared to have taken part in the voting even though they are not eligible to vote. The call was spearheaded by PN general secretary Michael Piccinino in a letter to the Chief Electoral Commissioner.

He observed how in terms of the law, people sentenced to more than a year imprisonment are not eligible to vote. The Court registrars on the island are obliged to notify the electoral commission every month of prison inmates sentenced for more than a year in jail.

Piccinino wrote that ’it is manifestly clear, as will result to the commission, that the list of some 180 persons issued by the Electoral Commission included several names of persons ineligible to vote, and the Electoral Commission took no action to stop them from voting.’

He said there are clear shortcomings by the commission and the court registrar that vitiated last Saturday’s electoral process. The chief electoral commissioner was thus asked to cancel last Saturday’s vote and to hold it once more after the list of eligible voters was updated. The PN reserved the right to take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

This follows the Electoral Commission handing the delegates of the political parties a list of prison inmates set to vote in the early election on March 16th. The PN delegate on the same day informed the commission that at least one inmate had not been removed despite being ineligible to vote as he had been sentenced to a jail term of more than 10 years. The party also pointed out that, is the case mentioned, there could be other prisoners who were not entitled to vote. The voting went ahead regardless.

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