Edwin Vassallo awarded €76,000 over 2013 vote counting mistakes

Former PN MP Edwin Vassallo has been awarded €76,000 in damages over mistakes made during the vote counting in the 2013 general election

In 2019, Vassallo filed a civil action for damages against the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General.

This followed a Constitutional Court’s decision to grant the Nationalist Party (PN) two additional parliamentary seats in 2016.

The two extra seats were awarded to Vassallo and former PN MP Peter Micallef, more than three years after the election.

The First Hall of the Civil Court confirmed that the PN was deprived of two parliamentary seats as a result of a faulty counting process.

Vassallo would only enjoy a few months in Parliament during that legislature, which ended with the 2017 general election.

The court ruled that this mistake, which had greatly prejudiced Vassallo, resulted in a financial loss of €76,178.20.

It said that the Electoral Commission did not supervise the electoral process in the way required by the Constitution and by electoral laws.

The Electoral Commission was ordered to pay damages and court fees.