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3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 APRIL 2026 NEWS UK elections will not impact Malta's electronic vote counting system THE Electoral Commission is confident the company supply- ing the electronic vote counting system will fulfil its obligations if an election happens now, despite parallel involvement in the UK. The electronic vote counting system in Malta is supplied by Idox, a British company that runs similar systems in Scotland and Wales. Elections for the region- al parliaments in Scotland and Wales are due on 7 May. Electronic preparations start well before vote counting day proper and involve inputting of ballot sheet data in the system and test runs. The involvement of Idox in Scottish and Welsh elec- tions at the same time that Mal- ta could be kicking off election preparations prompted some concern among people close to the two major political parties, who spoke to MaltaToday on condition of anonymity. However, a spokesperson for the Electoral Commission dis- missed the concerns in replies to this newspaper's questions. "Idox is contractually obliged to assist the Electoral Commis- sion in the running of elections in Malta which make use of the electronic vote counting system. Idox's service delivery in other regions have no impact on the Maltese election process," the spokesperson replied when asked whether the Electoral Commis- sion could guarantee that Idox will be in a position to send over its team to start prepping the Maltese system if an election is called now. Electronic vote counting was introduced in November 2017 when the Electoral Commission awarded Idox plc a €2.2 million contract to deliver end-to-end services, software and technical infrastructure to enable the elec- tronic counting of ballots. The system was used for the first time in the 2019 European and local council elections. Since then, it has been used in the 2022 general election and the 2024 European and local council elec- tions. Idox's contract was extended for a five-year period in January 2025, for €2.8 million. The com- pany is contractually bound to provide its services for all elec- tions and referenda to be held in Malta up to December 2029. Malta uses the single transfer- able vote system, which allows the electorate to vote for every candidate on the ballot sheet in order of preference. This compli- cates the counting process and, in past general elections, the manu- al system took anything between three and four days to complete. Remarkably, in the 2022 general election the entire vote counting process was completed in just one day as a result of the elec- tronic system. The system requires that all ballots are scanned and recorded digitally thus enabling a quicker electronic vote transfer process and mathematical calculations. Although the next general elec- tion is not due until June 2027 at the latest, rumours have been doing the rounds that the prime minister could call the election anytime in the next couple of weeks. When asked last Thurs- day on TVM's Xtra about the election, the prime minister was evasive, insisting the question was not "when" but "who should be leading Malta in these turbu- lent times". However, the Labour Party has been in full swing preparing itself for an election by reaching out to volunteers and the setting up of billboards across Malta and Gozo. KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Monitors inside the counting hall in the 2022 general election, showing scanned ballots and the electronic reading of voter preferences alongside the hand-written numbers (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday) CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The initiative does not in- troduce fully driverless vehi- cles. Each autonomous bus will be required to carry a qualified driver at all times, capable of taking control in- stantly if needed. The exer- cise is being carried out un- der supervised testing rather than a public rollout of au- tonomous transport. Sources close to the pro- ject explained the need for new legislation stems from existing laws, which require a driver to maintain full con- trol of a vehicle at all times, preventing any real-world testing of autonomous sys- tems. The proposed frame- work creates what sources described as a strict legal sandbox, allowing limited ex- perimentation under tightly controlled conditions. Under the new rules, the use of autonomous vehicles will be restricted exclusive- ly to testing. Only approved operators will be permitted to run trials, with authorisa- tion required for each specif- ic route. The legislation will also impose time limits on the trials and mandate the presence of a licensed driver onboard every vehicle. Sources explained the pro- ject is intended to position Malta within broader Eu- ropean smart mobility in- itiatives while building lo- cal expertise in emerging technologies. By adopting a phased and controlled ap- proach, authorities aim to gather real-world data before making any long-term policy decisions or committing to potentially costly infrastruc- ture, sources explained. The trials are a low-risk exercise designed to assess whether autonomous trans- port could function effec- tively within Malta's specific road conditions, rather than a signal that driverless buses will be introduced in the near future. Pilot study will see autonomous buses running between Smart City and Esplora in Malta A model of an autonomous bus produced by Volvo