Anomalies in hunting petition signatures

Fourteen per cent of the 104,293 signatures collected by the hunters’ federation to block the spring hunting referendum may not tally with the electoral register, according to an exercise carried out by The Sunday Times of Malta. The signatures, presented in Parliament last month, call on MPs to amend the Referenda Act to stop votes from “impinging on minority groups’ rights and practices”. A random sample study of 1,000 signatures found 137 ID card numbers listed on the petition did not correspond with the list of those eligible to vote in last month’s European Parliament election. More than eight per cent of the signatories, 81, did not exist on the electoral register. These include third country nationals, minors and those stripped of the right to vote. More in the Sunday Times of Malta and timesofmalta.com Premium.