The general election turnout has increased to 87.42%, as polls across Malta and Gozo closed on Saturday night.

That turnout is an increase of 1.82 percentage points on the final turnout in the 2022 general election.

Most polls had estimated the election turnout to sit at around 81 to 82%, a few points lower than the 85.6% turnout registered in 2022 – which was a record low general election turnout.

Yet there were increases in the turnout of all districts on Saturday.

The district with the highest turnout was, like in 2022, the 7^th district, which is made up of Zebbug, Dingli, Mtarfa, Rabat, and Mdina. 89.73% of those eligible cast their votes.

There were then almost identical turnouts in the 5^th (89.48%) and 13^th (89.42%) districts.

The lowest turnout meanwhile was registered in the 12^th district – made up of Mellieha, St Paul’s Bay, and Mgarr – where it stood at 81.39%, followed by the 10^th district – made up of Sliema, Gzira, St Julian’s, Pembroke, and part of Naxxar – where it stood at 82.58%.

The 13^th district – which is the whole of Gozo – saw the highest increase in turnout when compared to 2022.  Here, the turnout increased by 3.29 percentage points.

Despite the fact that the 12^th district had the lowest turnout, it was the district with the second highest uptick when compared to 2022.  The turnout here increased by 3.01 percentage points.  There was then also a 2.79 percentage point increase in the turnout in the 11^th district, which is made up of Mosta and Attard.

Both the 11^th and 12^th districts are known to be PN-leaning, and the 13^th district is expected to be a significant battleground, with PN leader Alex Borg contesting in the sister island.

The lowest increase in turnout meanwhile was in the significantly PL-leaning 3^rd district, which is made up of part of Marsascala, Zejtun, Ghaxaq, and Marsaxlokk.  The turnout here increased by just 0.46 percentage points when compared to the 2022 general election.

Polls opened at 7am on Saturday and will remain open until 10pm at 163 polling stations across Malta and Gozo.

Voters have 162 candidates split across 13 districts to choose from.  72 candidates are under the Labour Party’s banner, 65 are under the Nationalist Party banner, 8 are contesting for ADPD, 7 for Aħwa Maltin, another 7 for Momentum, and a solo candidate for Imperium Europa.  There are then two independent candidates.

Some eligible voters, however, will not be able to cast their vote on Saturday.  Figures issued on Friday show that a total of 15,312 voting documents have gone uncollected, which is equivalent to 4.29% of the electorate.

The percentage is a slight increase over the same statistic in the 2022 general election.  Back then, 14,473 voting documents were not collected – equivalent to 4.07%.

Vote sorting will begin on Sunday at around 9am.  An official result from the Electoral Commission is expected at around 8pm, but political parties may have indications about the election’s outcome based on their own sampling as the votes are sorted.