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Voting ends at all polling stations
By MaltaMedia News
Mar 8, 2008 - 11:00:00 PM
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Voting at polling booths ended at 23:00 CET in all localities, following an extension of an hour due to queues building up at various polling stations. People still in queues at 23:00 CET were allowed to cast their vote.
 The electorate started voting on Saturday at 07:00 CET. A total of 309,016 voters were eligible to vote for these general elections.
The ballot boxes will now be transported to the counting hall in Naxxar. During the night, the ballot papers will be put face down in packets of fifty. Sorting of votes according to first preferences is expected to commence on Sunday at around 10:30 CET.
Official figures published by the Electoral Commission revealed that 45% of the electorate had cast their vote by 14:00CET. The highest turnout of voters was registered in District 4 with 51%. Districts 8 and 9 followed both with 48%.
In the 2003 general election, 49% of the electorate had voted by 14:00 CET. However direct comparisons between these elections and the 2008 turnouts cannot be made since this year’s election is the first one following a change in the composition of particular districts.
The turnouts by 14:00CET for the General Elections 2008 for each district were as follows: District 1: 46%; District 2: 45%; District 3: 41%; District 4: 51%; District 5: 43%; District 6: 46%; District 7: 40%; District 8: 48%; District 9: 48%; District 10: 47%; District 11: 46%; District 12: 38%; District 13: 44%.
In turn in the local council elections, the average turnout also by 14:00CET was that of 35%. 97,081 eligible voters are eligible for this year’s local elections.
The counting process for the local council elections in 23 localities of which 18 in Malta and 5 in Gozo, will start on 15 March 2008 after the completion of the counting of votes for the general elections.
During the day, Malta’s highest authorities too cast their vote. Among these were President Edward Fenech Adami and Mrs Fenech Adami who cast their vote before noon, Labour leader Dr. Alfred Sant who voted at around 14:00CET and PM Gonzi and Mrs. Kate Gonzi who cast their vote just after 10:00CET.
169 candidates are standing for the election. 76 are on the Nationalist
Party list, 70 on the Labour Party's, nine for Alternattiva
Demokratika, nine with Azzjoni Nazzjonali and five are independent
candidates. Many of them are contesting two districts.
All Vodafone customers who send a blank SMS to 50902008 will receive SMS updates with breaking news on the General Elections. They can request General Election information relevant to their own district by sending an SMS to 50902008 with their district number as text i.e. from 1 to 13. Information on the chosen district will be updated by SMS until the official result is issued. Vodafone’s service will include updates by the Electoral Commission, first count votes and the members of Parliament elected. Each SMS costs €0.12 (Lm0.05).
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 9, 2008 - 3:22:21 PM CET
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