Three admit to changing address to Siggiewi building site despite not residing there

Court hears testimony about “Binja Silvio Parnis,” a social accommodation building in Siggiewi in which voters from other towns are registered as residing, despite being in shell form.

4 May 2024, 1:16pm
by Matthew Agius

2 min read

A MaltaToday investigation revealed that voters were registered at the empty flats

Three women, amongst the 99 who are registered as residing at a social accommodation project in Siggiewi that is still under construction have admitted in court that they do not actually live there.

This emerged during a sitting on Friday in a court case filed by the Nationalist Party, which accuses the governing Labour Party of gerrymandering. The Labour Party had taken the majority of votes cast in Siggiewi’s 2019 local council election, a first for the locality.

Two of the women who testified on Friday told the court that they were currently living in Qormi with their parents because the Siggiewi structure was currently uninhabitable, the third explaining that she lived in rented accommodation in San Gwann.

A fourth witness, a man who was thought to be residing in Mgarr, did not turn up for the sitting. A court messenger who was sent to notify him reported that the man was neither at his home in Mgarr, nor his registered address in Siggiewi.

The women told the court that a person ‘from housing,’ whom they did not recognise had sent for them to fill in a change of address form, to indicate their residence as Binja Silvio Parnis.

One of the witnesses said that she had been asked to fill in the form in order to be able to apply for water and electricity services at her new home.

PN Secretary General Michael Piccinino and Siggiewi PN local councillor Julian Borg also took the stand on Friday, where they confirmed on oath that the property in question was empty and not in a habitable state.

The party is basing their case on the General Elections Act which stipulates that voters may only vote in the district where they normally reside.

Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi is presiding over the cases, which were adjourned to next week.

Lawyers Karol Aquilina and Joseph Grech are representing the Nationalist Party in the proceedings. Lawyers Pawlu Lia and Ramona Attard are assisting the Labour Party.

Matthew Agius is Senior Reporter on Law and Court Affairs at MaltaToday. He is also a Leg...