Minister’s family ‘moves’ to different homes in Xewkija for daughter’s council bid

Agriculture minister Anton Refalo and his family have been identified in the latest electoral register as having changed their home address by ‘moving’ from Qala to two different residences in Xewkija, where his 19-year-old daughter Simona Refalo is contesting the local elections.

The Refalo family’s name appears in a list of around 28 names whose addresses were recently changed to Xewkija properties which are either still in development, or not belonging to the alleged residents.

The issue was brought to the attention of the Electoral Commission, and appears to be part of independent candidate Arnold Cassola’s recent complaint on reports that police had delivered voting documents to Xewkija addresses for people who actually reside elsewhere.

MaltaToday understands that the voting document of minister Anthony Refalo, who lives in Qala, was delivered to an address on Triq il-Kbira in Xewkija; the same address was also used to deliver a voting document to a certain Kevin Borg, of Mosta.

However Refalo’s wife Mikelina and his daughter Simona, until recently also registered at their Qala family home, had their voting documents delivered at a different address in Xewkija, on Triq it-Torri.

Additionally, Refalo’s son Andre had his voting document delivered to an apartment that is still in shell form at Ta’ Ġużepp Court on Mġarr Road, where another 11 people – both Maltese and Gozitan – had their voting documents delivered. That makes a total of 12 voters, originally residing in towns as ‘distant’ as Zurrieq, allegedly living in the same apartment in Xewkija.

Ta' Ġużepp Court, Triq l-Imġarr, Xewkija

The same pattern of new Xewkija addresses was found for around 28 people who are originally from Għarb, Qala, Victoria, Xagħra  in Gozo and Zurrieq, Birkirkara and Mosta in Malta.

Arnold Cassola has already denounced allegations of voters residing in certain villages in Gozo having had eleventh-hour address changes to Xewkija in order to be able to vote for a certain candidate. “Some of the persons really residing at these Xewkija addresses have refused to accept the voting documents of other persons registered at their Xewkija address,” he said.

Cassola questioned whether this was a mistake on the part of the Electoral Commission and its computing system or whether the addresses were deliberately changed to bolster the votes of a particular Xewkija candidate.

He said the matter should be investigated by the police as an alleged case of gerrymandering.

Minister Anton Refalo’s daughter Simona is a 19-year-old law student who is running for the Xewkija local council, among the three PL candidates contesting the council. The PL currently holds four of five seats in the Xewkija local council, but only three PL candidates are contesting the election, with mayor Hubert Saliba not running this time round.

Anton Refalo is Malta’s longest serving MP, having served in Parliament in nine legislatures since 1987.

Questions have been sent to Anton Refalo’s ministry.