[Daphne – A piece of desperate elastic will only stretch so far, sir. What percentage of US registered voters voted for Obama? And on the strength of that ‘very minority vote’, he is the most powerful man in the world. Get a grip.]

“Over 52% of the Maltese electorate voted in favour of EU accession” may be incorrect, but “Over 52% of those who voted favoured EU accession” certainly is.

I know that the Referenda Act gives the registered voters all three options. How could it not? Are we to expect police dragging people to the polling booths, or checking on people to see whether they have invalidated their votes?

And yes, the sum of those in favour is less than the votes against, invalid votes and abstentions. It is also less than the sum of people yet to be born. But what matters in referenda in the real world is the number of those who voted yes and the number of those who voted no.

But of course, some people will insist that “partnership rebah”. Incredible.

Kenneth Cassar
The Referenda Act gives the registered voter all the three options. What is sure in that result is the fact that the sum of those in favour is less than the votes against, invalid votes and abstentions.

Corinne
You asked a question and I gave you a reply.

May I let you all in a little secret? Mine was one of those 143,094 yes votes.

Mine was a rhetorical question. I see you have missed the point.

Well, that sure makes those who opposed EU membership stupid. If they had not got that crazy idea to abstain or invalidate their vote, they might have got their way.

Of course, this is all assuming that those who abstained or invalidated their vote were against EU membership. Try proving that!

It’s amazing how there are still people who question such a clear-cut referendum result.

The registered voters had the option to vote in favour, vote against, abstain or invalidate their vote

The following figures emerge from the 2003 Referendum:

Registered Voters 297,881

Votes in Favour 143,094

Votes Against 123,628
Invalid Votes 3,928
Abstentions:
Registered Voters 297,881
Less Votes Cast 270,650 = 27,231

Votes against(123,628)+Invalid+(3,928)+abstentions (27,231)add up to 154,787

Seen in the light of these figures, the claim that “over 52% of the Maltese electorate voted in favour of EU accession” is not correct.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ACT SPEAKS OF REGISTERED VOTERS.

Since mathematics is not an opinion I leave it up to you to work out the percentage of those who voted in favour.

[Daphne – The results of elections and referendums are not calculated on the total number of registered voters but on the total number of people who voted. I know that Labour Party supporters seem to have trouble understanding how democracy works, but give it a try and you might be pleasantly surprised that it’s quite safe and normal out here.]

Mark Foley (he was molested as a child in Florida by the priest from Gozo) is back in the news and broke his silence today after 2 years:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081112/D94D9Q1O3.html