As the decision on the constitutional case regarding the two extra parliamentary seats claimed by the PN will be handed down on 7 November, I thought of reminding readers the following:

In the 2013 general election the PL polled 167,533 first-count votes, while the PN polled 132,426 votes. The average quota for all the 13 electoral districts works out at 3,918, arrived at by adding the quotas of each district and then dividing the total of 50,934 by 13, which gives us the average quota of 3,918 votes. Dividing the total of PL votes, 167,533, by 3,918 gives the PL 42.759 seats, while dividing the total of PN votes, 132,426, by 3918 gives the PN 33.799 seats. Subtracting 33.799 from 42.759 results in a majority for the PL of 8.960 – or nine – seats, exactly what the Electoral Commission did!

Had there not been an error and the PN had won the two seats in question, the result would have still given the PL a majority of nine, since the PL had 13 seats majority at the end of the vote-counting.

But the majority was lowered to nine seats when the electoral commission gave the PN an extra four seats in order to abide by electoral law.

Further comment would be superfluous!

Eddy Privitera