Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1122280
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 MAY 2019 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA INDEPENDENT candidate Arnold Cassola, a former Green Party chairperson and candidate, issued a statement after voting closed, accusing both Joseph Muscat and Adri- an Delia of irresponsible con- duct on the issue of migration and racism. "I must express my disgust at the hypocrisy of Muscat and Delia, who shed crocodile tears on discovering that representa- tives of the state, two soldiers entrusted with the security of our country, are the alleged au- thors of a cold-blooded racial murder. "Apart from Norman Low- ell's appalling Nazi theories, it is also these two leaders who are responsible for all this since they are harbouring racists within their ranks, and even presenting them as candidates in yesterday's elections." Cassola said that only a few years ago, European Commis- sioner responsible for migra- tion Cecilia Malmström had been the subject of hate com- ments on Maltese social media. "And what does Joseph Muscat do? He now presents Joe M. Sam- mut as star candidate for St Paul's Bay lo- cal council. Will we now have a Labour racist mayor in multi- ethnic St Paul's Bay? A few years ago, a Labour MP had suggested in parliament that a separate bus ser- vice for migrants ought to be in- troduced on the Birzebbugia route. Pre-Martin Luther King days at their best. And what does Joseph Muscat do? He now presents this man as his MEP candidate," he said, refer- ring to Joe M. Sammut. "Another guy, this time PN, has been ranting that migrants are tak- ing over shops in Mar- sa and Hamrun and that this is affecting the Hamrun and Mar- sa community," Cas- sola said, referring to Dione Borg. "And what d o e s A d r i a n D e l i a do? He now presents him as an MEP candidate." Cassola said that Muscat and Delia presenting themselves as the paladins of anti-racism was shameless hypocrisy. "If you were really anti-racist, you would have by now long kicked out of your political parties the three persons men- tioned above. Instead, you present them as candidates. To quote the famous Konrad Mizzi: Shame on both of you." "And Mr Prime Minister, no amount of posing for photos and selfies with non-Caucasian adolescents is going to absolve you of your historical respon- sibility in fomenting racism in Malta." Cassola: Muscat and Delia 'shameless hypocrites' on racism they fomented Independent candidate Arnold Cassola CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 However, the PL is cau- tiously optimistic this time around that it could clinch its fourth seat. There were 332,888 peo- ple, who were entitled to vote in the European elec- tion after 38,737 voting documents remained un- collected by Thursday's deadline. Polling took place in schools across the island. Polling stations opened at 7am and closed at 10pm. These election, also pro- vided a series of firsts: It was the first time that lo- cal elections were held in all localities at one go; the first time that 16-year-olds voted in the European Par- liament election; and the first time that electronic counting will be used. The elections came on the back of a four-week campaign that saw politi- cal leaders cross swords on various issues. The first indications of how political parties scored are expected on Sunday at around 9am but the six candidates elected to the European Parliament will be known on Sunday night. Vote counting will take place at the Naxxar count- ing hall and a new elec- tronic system is expected to deliver speedier results. MaltaToday.com.mt will be providing live coverage from the counting hall and MaltaToday will publish a special printed edition to- morrow. The EP election was con- tested by 41 candidates. The Labour Party had 14 candidates, the Nationalist Party had 10, Alternattiva Demokratika fielded two candidates, the Demo- cratic Party had four can- didates, Alleanza Bidla and the Maltese Patriots Movement had two can- didates each, while Im- perium Europa and Brain Not Ego fielded a candidate each. There were also several independent candidates, including former AD chairperson Arnold Cas- sola, who put their name on the ballot sheet. PN leader Adrian Delia voted at the Siggiewi pri- mary school at 9am, while Joseph Muscat cast his vote in Burmarrad at 10am. De- lia was accompanied by Nationalist Party secretary general Clyde Puli and Sig- giewi mayor Alessia Psaila Zammit, among others. He was greeted at the Siggiewi primary school by Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Church. These were the first elec- tions Delia has faced since becoming PN leader in September 2017. Delia greeted Siggiewi residents, who were there to vote. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife Mi- chelle Muscat cast their vote in Burmarrad. PD leader Godfrey Farru- gia, also an MEP candidate, augured for a substantial turnout that could give these elections the differ- ence they merit: "We wish Malta luck, and PD has no loyalty to anyone other than Malta." Alternattiva Demokra- tika chairperson Carmel Cacopardo voted at 2pm in Kalkara. Cacopardo wore two hats: He was contest- ing the EP election and the local council election. He expected "a reasonable result on the same lines of the past" in the European election and "good results" in local elections. Unofficial results set to be announced early Sunday morning What will happen at the Naxxar counting hall AFTER four weeks of electoral cam- paigning that culminated in a day of reflection on Friday and voting day yes- terday, focus now shifts to the counting hall in Naxxar. For the first time, electronic count- ing will be used. This is expected to deliver a faster result with all six MEPs being known by tonight. Kurt Sansone takes us through the vote counting process happening today at the counting hall. • Throughout the night, counting agents have been opening the ballot boxes and placing ballots face down. The ballots are grouped by their respective boxes. • At around 7am agents will be turning the ballots face up and check- ing them for any irregular markings. • The irregular ballots are put aside for further scrutiny. • At around 8.30am, the politi- cal parties will be able to unofficially determine the outcome of the elec- tion in terms of votes obtained. They will do this because party agents will be taking note of the first preference on the individual ballots. • Once the ballots of every box are checked for irregularity, the elec- tronic scanning of votes starts. • The manual check and scan- ning process is expected to last be- tween eight hours and 10 hours. • Once all ballots have been scanned and the political parties are satisfied with the process, the Elec- toral Commission will start releasing the results count by count. This pro- cess is expected to replace the labo- rious manual sorting system at every count. • We can expect to know the six elected MEPs by this evening. Five years ago, the full complement of MEPs was not known until Wednes- day, four days after the election. Turnout 2014-2019 at 2pm