ADPD to file Constitutional case claiming seat in Parliament on number of votes won

ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo will be filing a Constitutional Case tomorrow to challenge Malta’s electoral law after the party achieved a national vote count equivalent to a quota in Saturday’s general election.

Cacopardo told MaltaToday that the Maltese electoral system discriminated against third parties, by offering a proportionate number of seats to the parties whose candidates are individually elected in constituencies.

ADPD obtained 4,747 first count votes, higher than the national quota, and the party believes it is being unfairly denied representation in Parliament.

“The system as it stands discriminates against votes that do not go to the two big parties,” he said. “This is a fight to make every vote actually count.”

Under Maltese law, the adjustment for proportionality only applies to two parties whose candidates are elected to the House.

Since its founding in 1989 as Alternattiva Demokratika, ADPD has never achieved the election of a candidate from any of Malta’s 13 districts. It obtained its highest showing in 2013, with a nationwide 1.8% of the national vote, or 5,506 votes.

ADPD obtained 244 first count votes on District 1, 311 on District 2, 378 (District 3), 391 (District 4), 409 (District 5), 320 (District 6), 510 (District 7), 415 (District 8), 439 (District 9), 203 (District 10), 269 (District 11), 527 (District 12) and 331 (District 13).