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Matthew Vella
The Gozo electoral district could be split up for the first time in electoral history as its quota of the national eligible voting population has exceeded the Constitutional five per cent deviation, now standing at 7.55 per cent.
Electoral Commissioner Carmel Degabriele told MaltaToday that the Commission is constitutionally bound to review the electoral boundaries at intervals of between two to five years.
The Commission is expected to present its report on the electoral boundaries on Tuesday, 3 May, to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The last electoral review was in 2000.
According to the Constitution, the Prime Minister is expected to place the review of electoral boundaries before Parliament within two months. Within five months’ time, the parliament is expected to either approve the alteration or refer it back to the Commission for reconsideration.
Degabriele however said he could not divulge any recommendations on the issue of the Gozo electoral district, whose voting population deviates by more than five per cent over its electoral quota.
He did not exclude that the increase in Gozo’s population was due to a spate of Maltese residents whose identity cards were registered in Gozo, where they own a second residence.
Electoral voting populations in each of Malta’s 13 electoral districts must not deviate by five per cent more or less than the electoral quota, which is obtained by dividing the total national electorate by 65, the number of members to be returned to Parliament, and then multiplied by five, the number of members to be elected from the division.
However, according to the October 2004 electoral register, Gozo and Comino have exceeded the national average of the number of eligible voters by 2.55 percentage points.
This means that Gozo could be split up, with part of its district annexed to the twelfth electoral district, which comprises the localities of Mellieha and Mgarr amongst others.
The Gozo population has increased in recent years as more Maltese residents started purchasing second homes on the sister island for weekend retreats.
A substantial part of Maltese weekenders are believed to have registered their identity cards in Gozo to benefit from reduced Gozo Channel tickets as Gozo residents, despite living in Malta for at least five days a week.
However, the electoral commission is not obliged to check the claims of those registering their identity cards in Gozo. An estimated 2,000 residents could be living in Malta five days a week, using Gozo only as their weekend retreat.
In 2003, Gozo’s district was already verging close to the five per cent deviation, at 4.4 per cent over the electoral quota. Along with the fifth, it is the district with the second highest voting population, whilst the first district, which includes Valletta and Floriana, has the lowest voting population.
Between 1947 and 1971 deviations above 10 per cent were quite common. Gozo in particular spent a considerable time needing few voters for each of its seats.
In 1974 the rules were changed when the Constitution laid down a five per cent deviation from the national quota in any district.
According to Professor John Lane, an electoral expert based in New York, the Constitutional standard has already been violated eight times so far between 1981 and 2003, with the last violations in the first and the fifth districts. Lane states the violations are probably due to the fact that whilst boundaries cannot be altered for a minimum of two years, the register of eligible voters is updated twice yearly and elections may be called before any alterations.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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