It’s been a busy day for Returning Officer Paul Martinez who has been working on his first general elections in Gibraltar.

Speaking to Your Gibraltar TV, Mr Martinez said today has gone very well, without any problems at all.

Mr Martinez said: “It’s been hard work but fun. The turnout has been quite good. “The final figure is in the order of 70.77% which is a very high turnout. It might be slightly lower for Gibraltar standards, but many countries in Europe would love to have that turnout.

“The number of voters registered is the highest we have, but final numbers are slightly lower than the 2011 elections, with results expected at 6am in the morning.”

The ballots papers are currently being counted after having gone through the verification process.

Mr Martinez explains the process – 14 boxes are brought in from the various polling stations around Gibraltar, they are opened up and checked for the official marks to make sure one thing tallies up with another. These ballot papers are then put into batches of 50, and then mixed up and split between the 24 counting rooms.

Voters have taken to social media networking sites concerned about registration numbers being checked off on the list of voters and placed on the stubs and ballot papers.

Mr Martinez insists this is to ensure there is no fraud.

He adds: “What I want to reassure everybody is that it is not traceable. When we finish tonight we put everything into separate bundles. Ballot papers and stubs go into another, everything is bundled and sealed and taken to the Supreme Court, and it stays there and nothing can be open unless a judge suspects foul play.

“It’s never happened, and never happened in Gibraltar. I can reassure everybody that nobody, and I mean nobody, has any access to that.”

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