Just when the entire country is gearing up for the ballot and candidates are preparing their nominations to file them with the electoral commission, the electoral office in Valletta is literally crumbling as party officials are going in and out of the old building.
According to an internal memo just issued to all electoral office staff under the subject ‘Danger warning’, the personnel have been warned not to park their cars outside a “dangerous area” where stone slabs were in danger of collapsing.
Over the last days and in the coming week, the same office is attracting hundreds of candidates submitting their names for the local and general elections.
The internal safety warning comes just a month since MaltaToday revealed serious security shortcomings at the same office that made the Evans Building vulnerable to thefts and acts of vandalism.
According to the memo sent by the office’s assistant director, unknown persons removed protective barriers, tape and a notice specifying that there was a danger of stones falling into the car park.
“You are all being advised not to park your car there before the repairs are made as this Office shall not be responsible for any damages, injuries or worse that might be caused to yourselves or your vehicles should the worst happen,” the memo said.
Sources at the office said the stolen barriers and notice were still not the solution to an accident waiting to happen.
“What is urgently needed is the immediate commencement of structural work on the façade,” one of the workers there said. “This is a dangerous situation and after all these months one expects that something should have already been done. Drivers who don’t know about the dangerous situation are still parking their cars there.”
Main stones above the windows have been weakened and fractured as pieces of stones are regularly falling down, sources said. The façade also shows cracks high up on the upper storey.
Meanwhile since last month’s report, the office has installed CCTV cameras to cover all entrances to the building and every office door. A new lock has been fitted against a heavy solid iron door leading to the chief electoral commissioner’s office and secretariat, archives section and the commission’s conference room, from where two television decoders had been stolen.
MaltaToday revealed that a spate of criminal acts remained unsolved over the past months. Although they are admittedly petty crimes, they expose worrying implications of the glaring lack of security surrounding the centre that will be coordinating this year’s election.
The latest act to plague the widely visited building undetected and unreported to the police was the smashing of the frame with the official photo of President Eddie Fenech Adami that is found in all government departments.
The most recent theft happened on Thursday 27 December when a female employee found her purse missing from her handbag which she left in her office while she went smoking in the designated room.

kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt