Almost 15,300 voters have already abstained from Saturday’s election

The polling booths in Malta open on Saturday at 7am but already, 15,312 voters have abstained from the general election by not collecting their voting document.

Thursday midnight when the deadline to pick up the voting document expired, 4.3% of eligible voters failed to turn up.

This represents a slight increase of 0.2 points, or around 1,000 voters, over the 2022 general election when 14,473 documents remained uncollected.

The voting document is necessary to be able to vote on Saturday. Without it, no one can vote.

Data obtained from the political parties shows that the highest number of uncollected documents is in the 12 District. Here, 9.3% of eligible voters, or 2,433, did not bother to pick up their voting document.

The 12 District, which includes Malta’s largest locality, St Paul’s Bay, has traditionally had the highest number of abstainers in all elections.

The district with the second highest number of uncollected voting documents is the 10 District with 2,000 voters refusing to pick it up. These equate to 7.2% of the district’s eligible voters. The 10 District includes the localities of Sliema, St Julian’s and Pembroke.

The 9 District has the third highest abstention rate with 1,444 voters failing to pick up their voting document. This equates to 5.3% of the district’s eligible voters. The 9 District includes the localities of Swieqi, Msida and San Ġwann.

The number of uncollected voting documents almost doubled four years ago, when compared to the 2017 election when 8,372 documents remained uncollected.

Clarification: The numbers were adjusted to reflect official figures, which showed 169 fewer uncollected votes. The difference does not change the percentage of undelivered documents.