Data on patients in hospitals and elderly homes should not be required to be submitted daily to the Electoral Commission, AD Deputy Chairman Carmel Cacopardo said on his blog.

He was referring to a letter from the Information Data Protection Commissioner which he published, where the Commissioner agreed with the AD on the issue.

“The Electoral Commission should require the submission of data, in terms of article 82 of the General Elections Act, not earlier than as from the Monday before polling day,” The letter from the Commissioner read.
This is in response to a complaint submitted by AD, where it was said that information regarding patients had to be submitted daily to the Electoral Commission. The AD had argued that this had breached data protection laws.

Carmel Cacopardo explained that “the recommendation of the Data and Information Protection Commissioner which cuts down to size the draconian provisions of the law agreed to unanimously in Parliament by the PL and the PN, thereby protecting patients from the unwarranted intrusion of political parties”.