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On March 8, 2003, Malta held its referendum
on European Union membership. This made it the first among nine countries calling
on their citizens to show their support, or lack of it, for the accession
of their country on May 1, 2004.
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News about the 2003
Malta-EU Referendum from MaltaMedia.com
Sunday, 9 March 2003
Official figures of votes cast
On Sunday evening, hours after the leaders of the YES campaign declared victory, the Electoral Commission issued the official figures of the votes cast in Saturday's referendum.
"No
one will alter numbers," says the Prime Minister
"Although the counting process has not yet come to an end, it is my pleasure to declare that the Maltese people have voted yes." - Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami
Labour calls for an immediate general election
"The Nationalist government would be abusing democracy should it proceed with its EU membership bid after it failed to get the green light for its policy from an absolute majority of the Maltese people," Opposition and Malta Labour Party leader Alfred Sant asserted on Sunday. "The government should announce a general election immediately," he said.
Confusion
reigns after both camps claim victory
1635 CET: A series of events that
took place since the first projections on the referendum result
were released by the Nationalist Party has caused great confusion
in the Maltese islands with constituents of both camps believing
they are victorious.
Alfred Sant says he is "very happy" with result
1300 CET: Malta Labour Party Leader
Alfred Sant said the MLP leadership is "very happy"
with the result and that the YES camp did not get the majority
it wanted.
PN
says it won the referendum with 53%
1230 CET: Deputy Prime Minister
Lawrence Gonzi and PN Secreatry General Joe Saliba anounced the
YES vote won the referendum with 53% or 15,000-20,000 votes.
The counting of referendum votes has started
1030 CET: The counting of the referendum
vote has finally started after a lengthy sorting procedure that
took all night and continued until 1020 CET.
Saturday, 8 March 2003
Ballot boxes start pouring in
The ballot boxes of the referendum on Malta's membership in the European Union have started pouring in at the Ta' Qali Counting Complex around one hour after the polls closed at 22:00 CET.
Maltese
referendum catches attention of international media
The opinion the Maltese people are being asked to give on whether
they want the country to join the European Union or go an alternative
way has been given prominence by the international media.
Highest
authorities cast their vote
The President of Malta, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition,
the chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika and the Archbishop have
cast their vote, most of them in the first half of the day.
Polling
booths open at 0700 CET on schedule
Five hundred and fifty-three ballot boxes in polling booths around
Malta and Gozo were opened on schedule on Saturday morning for the
referendum on Malta's European Union membership and Local Council
elections in 23 localities.
more
news...
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Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami announced the date
of the referendum on January 29. From then on the whole country embarked
in a fiercely-fought campaign divided between the YES campaign, led by
the Nationalist Party in government, and the NO campaign, championed by
the Malta Labour Party in Opposition which proposed an alternative relationship
with the EU, what it calls "partnership"
 Malta
formally applied to join the European Union in July 1990. Twelve years
have passed and the island nation has never been closer to becoming a
member of the bloc, at a time when the Union going through another historic
phase. Only two things stand between Malta and membership on 1st May 2004:
the referendum on membership and a general election.
The latter was held on 8th March 2003 while
general elections were held on the 12th of April.
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