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Three days to go for general elections
By MaltaMedia News
Mar 6, 2008 - 12:09:55 AM
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Three days before voting day and a bombshell drops on Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika, Dr Harry Vassallo, with a double arrest warrant issued against him over fines converted into a prison term.
 Dr Vassallo replied by saying that he was being wrongly inculpated for failing to submit VAT returns of a company he represented 10 years ago and that he is just a victim of a bureaucratic system. Moreover, he claimed that since the issue of the warrants in October, five months ago, they have been waiting in some drawer waiting for the opportune moment when they could be “useful to the Nationalist Party.”
In a retaliatory statement PN Secretary General, Joe Saliba, forcefully denied all the allegations presented by Dr Vassallo in his party’s regard saying it would be utterly foolish of PN to enter into Dr Vassallo’s case on the eve of elections. Saliba then accused AD’s Chairperson of trying to score political points from a personal issue.
In turn, AD published their reply to Saliba’s statement, saying “The Nationalist Party has lost all sense of decency and sense of the truth when trying to convince people that it had nothing to do with today’s events with regards to Dr. Harry Vassallo. Once again the Nationalist Party has used the last day of the electoral campaign to try to discredit AD with mudslinging tactics. The facts of today’s events speak for themselves and need no further comment.”
The Police Commissioner has launched an urgent investigation over Dr Vassallo’s description of the events on Wednesday which does not match that of the sergeant who was tasked to inform Dr Vassallo of the warrants.
 In a local meeting on Wednesday evening in Zabbar, Opposition Leader and Leader of the Malta Labour Party, Dr Alfred Sant condemned the warrant arrests and asked “Why did this have to happen on the eve of elections?”
Worse than that, Dr Sant said, was that Dr Vassallo was informed by the warrants by a NET journalist.
The Opposition leader went on to say that the V.A.T. returns are making victims out of small entrepreneurs and the self-employed.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi , in an interview with John Bundy in Freedom Square Valletta, said that a vote for the Nationalist party would mean a vote in favour of work and stability. He also reiterated the pledge that should his party be re-elected it would create 25,000 new jobs in the next five years of the legislature.
 Dr Gonzi told those present that despite the blunders that Dr Sant had committed, he remained unrepentant. Every vote counts, he said, and whoever abstains from voting would be voting for Labour. This is a burden we all must carry together as a nation, he said, for the sake of peace of mind.
In a press conference by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday morning it was revealed that the first preference votes will be sorted at around 1030CET on Sunday 9th, but definitely not earlier.
The Commission stated that uncollected voting documents can still be collected until midnight on Thursday. These have to be collected personally by the voter, without exception, as is stated by the law. This applies to all and sundry including those Maltese citizens who are currently living abroad.
Mr Louis Fsadni, Counting Hall manager said that ballot boxes will be opened immediately on arrival at the Naxxar Counting Hall. It was later stated that the Commission will be doing its best so that no one minute is wasted in the whole process leading to the official results.
He said “Every minute counts and we want to issue the result as early as possible.”
A further 6,400 voting documents remained uncollected until Wednesday evening.
For more details, including pictures and videos of the electoral campaign 2008, see MaltaMedia's special feature on the 2008 Malta General Elections.
© Copyright 2008 by MaltaMedia.com
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Latest update:
Mar 7, 2008 - 11:59:44 AM CET
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