Inquiry launched into alleged abuse at Nurses’ Council election

The health ministry has launched an independent inquiry into allegations of abuse at the recent election for the Nurses and Midwives Council.

The inquiry will be spearheaded by Joseph Caruana, the permanent secretary to environment minister Jose Herrera.  

Two candidates out of the five vying for a seat on the council filed a judicial protest on Friday, claiming that the recent election was marred by irregularities, which included the photocopying of votes.

They claimed that two ink spots are visible on a large number of the votes cast, all on the same position on the ballot, which they said is an indication that photocopies had been made. A background image featuring a sequence of letters in tiny print – added to ballot papers as a security feature – was clearly different in those ballots cast for the other three candidates, it was claimed.

The election for the Council of Nurses and Midwives takes place every three years, but does not fall under the responsibility of the Electoral Commission.  According to reports, no more than 700 nurses and midwives usually vote, on average, but for this election close to 2,000 votes were cast.

Shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg had called for an independent inquiry to investigate the claims.

“It is shocking to find such irregularities in the election of members of this council in a supposedly democratic country,” she said. “[Health minister] Chris Fearne has the political and moral responsibility to take the necessary action.”