Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521974
15 MEP ELECTION 2024 maltatoday | THURSDAY • 6 JUNE 2024 Vote-counting When polling stations close at 10pm, election officials reconcile the number of voting documents distributed in each polling booth with the number of voting documents collected. The bal- lot box is then sealed and transported to the counting hall in Naxxar. Boxes are then unsealed and ballots distrib- uted on long tables, where counting agents turn them face down to con- firm the presence of the official stamp. Ballots will then be passed through scanning machines and the scans up- loaded on screens where party agents can start tallying the votes. The result The EP election produces two re- sults. The first result to emerge early is the strength of the respective parties and independent candidates at first count. This is irrelevant to the final outcome, which determines who the six MEPs are but has political impor- tance because it shows the strength in vote terms of the respective parties. A very accurate indication of this result will be known around an hour or so into the vote scanning exercise be- cause the main political parties will be taking samples and projecting the out- come. In this way, we will know what percentage of votes the parties have achieved and possibly the extent of the vote gap between the major parties. The second and most crucial result in the EP election is the one that tells us who are the six candidates elected as MEPs. This will take much longer to figure out. It is likely that when the first count is complete, we will have two candidates elected because they would have surpassed the nationwide quota. The process will then drag on to determine how the votes are inher- ited from each count to the other. It is only by the evening of Sunday that we will have the complete picture of who the six MEPs are. The quota The quota is the threshold of votes any candidate would have to reach to be elected. This is worked out through a mathematical formula: The number of all Valid Votes Cast (the votes that are left after spoilt ballots are removed) is di- vided by 7 (one more than the 6 that have to be elected) plus 1. The quota in the 2019 EP election stood at 37,174 votes. Given that Malta and Gozo are considered as one electoral district for the EP election, the quota is based on nation- wide numbers unlike the general election where each of the 13 electoral districts have their own separate quota. Reaching the quota The first count gives the total number of number 1 votes each candidate would have achieved. If, as expected, a candidate surpasses the quota they are declared elect on the first count. Elected candidates have to keep the quota in their pigeon hole but any surplus votes above the quota are redistributed according to the second preference (the number 2) on the rest of the candidates. The inherited votes are then added to the individual candidates' tallies. If no candidate reaches the quota, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed. This process continues at each count until all six MEPs are elected. for voting day What happened in 2019 Registered voters: 371,643 Votes cast (turnout): 270,022 (72.7%) Invalid votes: 9,810 Valid votes cast: 260,212 Quota: 37,174 Results in votes PL: 141,267 (54.3%) PN: 98,611 (37.9%) Imperium: 8,238 (3.2%) PD: 5,276 (2%) AD: 1,866 (0.7%) Others: 4,954 (1.9%) Results in seats PL: 4 PN: 2