Former PL councillor, police constable cleared of illegitimate voting document possession

An appeals court has confirmed the acquittal of former Labour Party councillor Raymond Azzopardi and former Police Constable Mario Casha from charges of being in possession of an illegitimate voting document.

The voting document belonged to a woman called Antoinette Tabone, who is registered to vote in Gozo however resides in Malta. A complaint was filed with the police, via an e-mail, by an unknown “party representative,” that police constable Mario Casha had given the voting document of Ms Tabone to Mr Azzopardi, in breach or electoral commission rules because the latter had no authorisation to do so.

Ms Tabone repeatedly said, while testifying in court, that she never filed a complaint and wished to bring nobody any trouble. She said she had verbally authorised Mr Azzopardi to pick up the voting document to save her the hassle of travelling to Gozo herself.

The incident took place in April 2015, during the Local Council elections as well as the referendum on spring hunting, in Kerċem, Gozo. Mr Azzopardi was a Labour Party candidate contesting the local council elections. He was aware of a woman known as Antoinette Tabone, who had been registered to vote in Kerċem. Some weeks prior to the election, Mr Azzopardi had allegedly called her in order to offer to pick up her voting document to save her the hassle of going up to Gozo, because she had actually been living in Birkirkara despite being registered to vote in Kerċem.

Allegedly, in March 2015 a policeman tasked with delivering voting documents rang the bell at Ms Tabone’s residence in Kerċem to deliver her document but found nobody home. It was said that Mr Azzopardi had been passing by the residence at the time and asked the policeman, Mario Casha, to hand over the document to him. The policeman complied.

The men had been acquitted but the Attorney General filed an appeal, claiming that the law had not been applied successfully, and that the men should not have been acquitted. However, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, presiding over the appeals court, confirmed the original decision.

In the original case Magistrate Joseph Mifsud had chastised the Electoral Commission and the police for proceeding against the men and failing to acknowledge the longstanding practice where individuals registered to vote in Gozo but who actually reside in Malta have others who take care of their Gozo property pick up the documents in order to save the individuals from having to travel up to Gozo for that specific purpose.

A specially authorised person can collect the voting document of another person, usually those people who are registered to be living in the same residence can pick up each other’s documents.

In 2016, Mr Azzopardi had tendered his resignation from the Labour Party over “very serious charges” levelled against him. The charges have not been outlined because the court ordered for the names to be kept hidden due to the sensitivity of the case.