Two candidates to start with a 4,000 vote advantage, expert claims

Topping the list of the main political parties on the ballot paper means starting the election with around a 4,000-vote bonus, an expert of Malta’s electoral system claims.

Hermann Schiavone, who analysed the Single Transferrable Vote system for his doctorate degree, told MaltaToday that according to his estimates, Labour and Nationalist candidates who are on top of the lists always enjoy an average of 250 votes per district.

Architect Lino Bianco and entrepreneur Ray Bugeja are the first names found on the ballot paper for the Labour and Nationalist parties respectively.
This estimate is triggered by the so-called ‘donkey voting’, the practice of numbering the candidates as they appear on the ballot paper instead of numbering them according to one’s preference.

“This element will persist in the upcoming European elections mainly because they are considered as secondary elections. Substantial numbers want to vote for their party but they do not have any preferred candidate,” Schiavone said.

Donkey voting will also be crucial in the inheriting of votes. In 2009, Marlene Mizzi lost Labour’s fourth seat to John Attard Montalto – who inherited the bulk of Claudette Abela Baldacchino’s votes – despite polling 5,000 votes more than him.

“2009 was not an exception. The alphabet influences every election and I do not exclude it from having an important say in the upcoming elections as well,” Schiavone underlines.

He says that from studies he made, usually the electorate meticulously marks the first three preferences, but then continues marking the ballot paper randomly, usually in a top-down approach.

“In this context, the parties’ decision to present a long list of candidates for just six seats was unthinkable. A long ballot paper indirectly encourages this style of voting.”

The Nationalist Party has 11 candidates, while Labour originally presented 13 candidates before Cyrus Engerer withdrew his candidature last week.

According to his studies, Schiavone concludes that donkey voting is present in every electoral district and irrespective of political preferences.

“It is not prevalent in a particular political camp or another, but my estimates show the 10th district (made up of Sliema, Pembroke, St Julians and Swieqi) has a lower tendency to resort to donkey voting. This may be due to socio-cultural factors, since it is also the same district with the lowest illiteracy rate,” Schiavone explains.

While concurring that such system discriminates against certain candidates, he states that alternatives exist but they also come with several shortcomings.

“For instance, it’s always a possibility to adopt a rotation system, where ballot papers are printed with candidates in no particular order. Ideally every polling booth would have a different set up, and that would ensure a fairer scenario to all candidates in regards to donkey voting. But undoubtedly, that would give rise to a much lengthier counting process,” Schiavone admits.