The visiting hours at hospitals have been significantly shortened on the day early voting for patients will take place, while the Electoral Commission has called on relatives to bring the voting documents of patients to hospital so that they can vote.

In two separate statements, the Electoral Commission notified that on polling day, which is going to be held at Mater Dei including SAMOC, Karin Grech, Mount Carmel and Gozo General Hospitals including Downtown, on Thursday, 24th March, 2022, no visitors shall be allowed inside these institutions except between 7.00 pm and 8.00 pm.

However, the Electoral Commission said that on the advice of the hospital authorities, it may issue permits outside stipulated visiting hours for relatives of patients who are very seriously ill and shall have the discretion to decide on the number of relatives allowed at any one time.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission also appealed to relatives of voters recovering in Mater Dei, including SAMOC, Karen Grech, Mount Carmel and Gozo General Hospitals, including Downtown, (who were there and registered as patients up until 6.00 pm on Monday, 21st March) that if they are in possession of the patient’s voting document, they are to immediately consign the said document to the patient to enable him/her to vote at the hospital on Thursday, 24th March.

“Whoever holds a voting document pertaining to another person would effectively be denying the person’s right to vote, in breach of the law, which states that a “...person who is in unlawful possession of any voting document... shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine or to imprisonment or to both such fine and imprisonment” (Art. 112, Cap. 354),” the Commission said.

The Electoral Commission said that when such cases arise, the police authorities will be asked to intervene.