MaltaToday previous editions

NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 NOVEMBER 2018 2 MASSIMO COSTA THE upcoming European Parliament and local council elections in May next year will see the introduction of an electronic vote counting system. This system will see the old manual method of counting votes ditched in favour of an automated e-counting pro- cess, resulting in votes being counted in a much shorter timeframe, with less chance for human error. E-counting will also be used for the next general election. Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Church said that two mock counts are planned to help identify any teething troubles in the new system, one scheduled for Satur- day, and the other for December. The latter will be a full-scale simulation of the counting process for the European elections. Voters will still manually fill in a paper ballot sheet, with numbers indicating their preferred candidates – the votes will now be scanned and counted electronically. The electronic system has been built by IDOX, a Scotland-based company with over 23 years experience in the sector. IDOX are partnering with Spanish firm Scytl, which is dealing with the security aspects of the count- ing. IDOX regional manager Trevor Kirkup said the system was built to be accurate, secure, auditable, transparent, and to provide results in a timely fashion. "The counting engine's accuracy has been proven through extensive testing," he said, highlighting that 390,000 test ballots had been run through the system and been scanned in less than six and a half hours. Any votes which are scanned but detected by the system as being problematic – such as when a number isn't written clearly – will be sent to an adjudication section for verification. If the adjudicators cannot agree, the sheet is passed on to the hall's Electoral Commission section, which will make a final decision. Since it is not yet known how long the adju- dication step will take, Kirkup said he couldn't commit on the duration of the en- tire process for the counting of European elec- tion votes. "But we expect preliminary results to be out the same day as voting," he said. Asked what would happen to the old prac- tice where party officials stationed behind the Perspex used to count candidate votes to obtain a voting sample and call preliminary results, Kirkup said discussions were still on- going with the political parties on the best way of integrating this with the new electronic methods. Votes from Malta's 13 districts will still all be taken to the Naxxar counting hall, where they will be placed in a strong room to be verified. The ballot sheets will then go to their district sections, as used to happen traditionally. After this, however, the electronic process will start, with the system being notified of how many ballot papers have been given to every individual district, so it knows how many to expect. Every district has two scanners assigned to it – 26 in total. The ballot papers are placed in the scanners in clear view of everyone, and are each scanned. Once a full ballot box is scanned, it is marked as "closed" in the system. All valid ballot papers which have been scanned will be displayed on large screens fac- ing the Perspex, clearly indicating the prefer- ence numbers. mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt Electronic vote counting to be used in 2019 elections DFA exploring possibilities to introduce tracking system requirement JAMES DEBONO THE Zebbug council is opposing an appli- cation to construct a 3000sq.m petrol sta- tion outside development zones in an area known as Ta' San Martin along Mdina road. "The ODZ should be protected and im- proved ", the labour-led council said in its objection. The council called for the "pres- ervation, improvement and management of such rural resources for the benefit to all". The application proposed by Charles Mifsud proposes the relocation of an ex- isting petrol station at Testaferrata Street in Ta' Xbiex to the new site. The applica- tion also foresees a workshop, a retail shop offices and staff facilities and a car wash. The Zebbuġ site is about 500 metres away from another site on Mdina Road, Attard, also earmarked for a new fuel sta- tion in an application presented by Lud- wig Camillleri. The Environment and Re- sources has objected to this application. The planning watchdog turned down a similar application for a fuel station further down Mdina Road last May as it was located less than 500 metres – the minimum distance under current policy – from the nearest existing fuel station. The new application is among several being considered despite the ongoing re- view of the controversial fuel stations pol- icy, under which they are being processed. The policy review was announced in Jan- uary. Three months later ERA submitted its proposals for the new policy, includ- ing an outright ban on new fuel stations in ODZ areas. The policy was issued for public consultation during the summer months. The government has already confirmed that the new policy will not apply to pend- ing applications, which will continue to be assessed under the existing policy ap- proved in 2014. Zebbug council opposing ODZ petrol station application CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Information and transmissions from these tracking systems are fed through to the fisheries depart- ment's (DFA) control room, which actively monitors the registered ac- tivity. In total, the local fishing vessel reg- ister comprised 2,933 vessels as at March 2018. Of 196 out of 376 MFAs – full- time professional fishermen – and 507 out of 545 MFBs – part-timers – do not have any of the mentioned tracking systems installed. Additionally, the 2,012 MFC ves- sels – which are designated to recre- ational fishermen, who are licensed to engage in fishing activity but not to commercialise their catch – are not equipped with any of the men- tioned tracking systems, irrespective of their size and whether they are li- censed to fish for protected species or not. The DFA is now exploring possibilities to introduce a tracking system requirement for MFC regis- tered vessels as from next year. "NAO is concerned that the vast majority of professional fishing ves- sels are not equipped with such sys- tems… the DFA has practically no means by which to remotely moni- tor the movements of a very large portion of the local fishing fleet. "A very real risk exists that those vessels which would not fall within the parameters subjecting them to the installation of a tracking system, could still be very capable of engag- ing in fishing activity which com- pares, if not exceeds, both in quan- tity and species, with that of their tracked counterparts." Another 7,416 vessels are regis- tered as small ships (S), which al- though permitted to engage in fish- ing by using only limited equipment, could still be used for intensive fish- ing activities. The DFA however says such vessels fall under Transport Malta's remit and consequently no tracking systems on such vessels specifically intended for the moni- toring of fishing activity are installed. While tracking systems are in- stalled on vessels which officially declare their intention to target pro- tected species, other equally or more capable untracked vessels may still irregularly target these fish stocks. The NAO also said that vessels which are not equipped with track- ing devices, pose the risk of them going out at sea and engaging in fishing activity out of the official sea- sons without being tracked by the Department. "Apart from this principle of lim- ited visibility, NAO here also per- ceives unfair treatment towards fish- ermen who officially declare their intention to target protected species while other equally capable vessels which deceivably fail to declare such intentions are left untracked." The DFA is also expected to carry out physical inspections through its own RHIB and the Armed Forces, but the NAO said the DFA's own as- set had been largely non-operational due to technical problems: only six inspections targeting six ves- sels were carried out in 2017, and a single inspection on one vessel was conducted at sea between January and June 2018. The DFA pays the Armed Forces €390,000 for its patrols. The NAO said the AFM con- ducted 224 successful inspec- tions on 197 vessels between mid-December 2016 to mid-June 2018: 95 included MFAs (in 119 inspections), 22 MFBs (in 23 in- spections) and 40 MFCs (in 43 in- spections). This essentially means that the AFM conducted inspec- tions on 25%, 4% and 2% of MFA, MFB and MFC registered vessels respectively over a period of one and a half years, at a frequency which slightly exceeds one in- spection per vessel.

• Cover