The Nationalist Party has taken aim at the data leak involving the personal information of over 330,000 votes, arguing that the right to privacy and to data protection is being broken due to the interest of some within society, and called for the removal of Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi.

It was reported that the personal data of 337,384 voters. was being held by a Maltese IT company, and that it was exposed without security. The data reportedly includes id numbers, names, addresses, gender, phone numbers and dates of birth. Screenshots of the breach were posted on Reddit and Twitter.

It was reported on Thursday that the data originated from a list created by the Labour Party which which combines the electoral register with data gathered on voting preference, an argument which the PL denied. The data was being held by C-Planet IT Solutions, a data company owned by Philip Farrugia, a former PL media employee. He is also the brother-in-law of Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi.

Information and Data Protection Commissioner Saviour Cachia has launched an investigation into a reported security leak.

The Labour Party has distanced itself from a data breach. In a statement, the PL had said the system used by the IT company is not the same as the one used by the party. The PL said it has its own system which is controlled internally. The company named in the breach and its director were never connected to the PL's system in any way. the PL said. The PL said the information it has is held lawfully because it is provided by the Electoral Commission. It said it has always been careful in its handling of data, even before the introduction of GDPR.

Today, the PN argued that in what is the largest data protection breach in the country, "those involved in the case continue denying what is known, that personal data ended up in the hands of a private company which has close connections to Parliamentary Secretary Zrinzo Azzopardi, who one must remember was the PL President between 2008 and 2013. In light of all this, the position of Zrinzo Azzopardi as a Parliamentary Secretary is no longer tenable, and he should be removed from his position."

"The PN awaits the Data Protection Commissioner as well as the police to investigate this case in the shortest time possible so that the people will know the whole truth, and that justice be done.