The Electoral Commission today announced changes to the electoral districts.
Only the 6th (Luqa, Qormi and Siggiewi), the 9th (Gharghur, Msida, Swatar, San Gwann, Swieqi, Madliena Ta' Xbiex) and the 13th (Gozo and Comino) districts remain unchanged.
The 1st district now includes all of Marsa and all of Santa Venera, apart from Valletta, Floriana, Hamrun and Pieta’ (including Guardamanga).
The 2nd district, comprising Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Zabbar (including St Peter’s), Kalkara and Xghajra, now also includes part of Fgura.
The part of Il-Fgura in this Division consists of the following streets: Triq Aldebaran, Triq Amabile Sisner, Triq Baldassare Lanci, Triq il-Bieb, Triq Blondel, Triq Cospicua, Triq il-Foss, Triq Fredu Abela, Triq Tal-Gallu, Triq il-Gardjola, Wesgħet Ġużeppi Gauci, Triq Hompesch, Vjal Kottoner, Wesgħet il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa, Triq Lorry Sant, Triq il-Misk, Triq Mondion, Daħlet in-Niċċa l-Antika, Triq Pawlu Micallef, Triq il-Pepprin, Triq Romano Carapecchia, Triq San Ġwann (from Triq Amabile Sisner to Triq Hompesch), Triq Sant’Antnin (from Triq il-Pepprin to Triq Hompesch), Triq Sigismondo Savona, Triq Vincenzo Maculano, Triq William Lassell and Triq Wistin Levanzin.
The 3rd district keeps Zejtun and Marsascala but now also includes Ghaxaq and Marsaxlokk. It formerly included part of Fgura.
The 4th district has lost Ghaxaq and part of Marsa. It is now made up of part of Fgura (the part not mentioned in the second district), Gudja, Paola, Santa Luċija and Tarxien.
The 5th district has lost Marsaxlokk. It is now formed up of Birżebbuġa, Kirkop, Imqabba, Ħal Farruġ, Luqa, Qrendi, Safi and Żurrieq (including Bubaqra).
The 7th district loses Mdina. It now comprises of Dingli, Żebbuġ, Imġarr, Mtarfa, Rabat (including Baħrija and Tal-Virtù).
The 8th district has lost the Simblija area of Naxxar and part of Santa Venera but now also includes Balzan. It is now made up of Balzan, Birkirkara, Fleur-de-Lys, Swatar, Iklin and Lija.
The 10th district, comprising Gzira, Pembroke, St Julian’s (including Paceville) and Sliema now also includes part of Naxxar and Bahar ic-Caghaq.
The Part of In-Naxxar in this Division shall consist of the following streets: It-Telgħa t’Alla w’ Ommu, Triq Andrea Debono, Triq Arnaldo Fabriani, Trejqet l-Arżnu, Triq Birguma, Sqaq Brimbu Tal-Budaq, Limiti ta’ Triq il-Bużjett, Triq Donald Harrison Smith, Triq G. Sandys, Triq Għargħur, Triq Giacomo Bosio, Triq Hieronymus Megiser, Triq l-Imnara, Sqaq l-Imnieqa, Triq J. Howard, Triq Jean Houel, Triq John Adye, Triq Juan B. Azopardo, Trejqet il-Kampanjol, Triq il-Kantilena, Triq il-Kappella ta’ San Mikiel, Triq il-Kappella ta’ Santa Marija, Sqaq Tal-Laqx, Triq Lord Byron, Triq Luqa Briffa, Il-Magħtab (part of), Triq Margaret A. Murray, Triq in-Nigret, Trejqet il-Palma, Triq Ph. Skippon, Triq Profs A. J. Arberry, Sqaq il-Qbiela, Triq ir-Ramla, Triq ir-Rixtellu, Trejqet ir-Rummiena, Triq S. Taylor Coleridge, Triq is-Salina (from It-Telgħa t’Alla u Ommu to corner with Triq il-Kappella ta’ Santa Marija), Triq San Ġwann (Il-Magħtab), Trejqet San Luqa, Triq San Mark, Triq San Mattew, Triq San Pawl, Triq Sir Hannibal P. Scicluna, Triq Sir W. Scott, Triq it-Tarġa, Triq Widna Radar, Triq Wied Anġlu
The 11th district comprising Attard and Mosta now also includes Mdina and Burmarrrad.
The 12th district has lost Burmarrad. It is now made up of Mellieha, St Paul’s Bay and the part of Naxxar that is not mentioned in the 10th district.
The new districts have been published in the Government Gazette (No. 19,749) of 28 March, 2017. They may also be viewed under the “About Us” section in the Electoral Commission’s website www.electoral.gov.mt
The Electoral Commission further notifies that the electoral register being published in April, 2017, shall be based on the latest altered boundaries.
The Malta Independent had revealed last year that a number of districts were expected to be altered due to constitutional requirements which stipulate that each district, except for Gozo, must be +/- 5 per cent of the population of Malta divided by 12 districts.
An exercise carried out by this newspaper had shown that that the first district (-7.93 per cent), second district (-5.12 per cent) and fourth district (-5.73 per cent) have all experienced decreases in population to an extent that their current numbers would make them unconstitutional.
The electoral districts are redrawn every five years, in order to reflect population changes and to keep voting practices in line with constitutional requirements. The last time the districts were changed was in 2012.