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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JUNE 2024
NEWS
Meanwhile, Prime Minister
Robert Abela voted in Żejtun
yesterday accompanied by his
wife Lydia.
He described the election
campaign as "beautiful" and
said it was now "up to the peo-
ple to decide".
Opposition leader Bernard
Grech and wife Anne Marie
voted in Mosta. Grech called
the occasion an "important day
for the country".
European Parliament Presi-
dent Roberta Metsola voted in
Sliema, while ADPD chairper-
son Sandra Gauci voted in St
Paul's Bay. Independent can-
didate Arnold Cassola voted in
Pembroke.
President Myriam Spiteri
Debono, who was voting for
the first time since becoming
president, voted in her home-
town Birkirkara.
There were 332,967 eligible
voters for the EP election yes-
terday after 37,000 voters or
10% of the electorate chose not
to pick up their voting docu-
ment by midnight on Thurs-
day.
Although not small, the num-
ber of uncollected votes was
similar to five years ago.
Voting took place in govern-
ment schools across Malta and
Gozo. Ballots were cast in 1,600
ballot boxes.
This was the fifth European
election to be held in Malta
since the country joined the EU
in 2004.
In the 2019 election, the La-
bour Party (S&D) elected four
MEPs and the Nationalist Party
(EPP) elected two MEPs.
MaltaToday will be offering
live updates all through Sun-
day from the counting hall in
Naxxar and other locations
around Malta.
Matthew Farrugia, Karl Azzopardi
and Nicole Meilak contributed to
this report.
head to polls in calm election
