Valletta, Mar 27 (IANS): Voters in Malta went to the polls for the country's general elections to elect 65 MPs for the next five years.

On Saturday, there are just over 340,400 registered voters in the European Union (EU)'s smallest member state, reports Xinhua news agency.

The election results are expected on Sunday.

The ruling Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Robert Abela, is expected to win with a comfortable majority, according to surveys.

Opposition leader Bernard Grech, who has been leading the Nationalist Party since October 2020, is calling for a change in the country's direction after a series of scandals rocked the government. These include the placing of Malta on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti-money laundering body.

On the other hand, Abela is promising to bring about more reforms.

The party leaders cast their votes on Saturday morning in their respective hometowns.

Malta is split into 13 electoral districts, with each electing five MPs, depending on the size of the voting population.

Saturday's election also saw voters as young as 16 voting for the first time.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also forced some organisational changes in the voting process, with special drive-through polling stations set up to cater for voters who are in self-isolation, quarantine or those who are positive to the virus.

Malta's next Parliament will also include a number of female MPs, following the introduction of a new law stating that 40 per cent of MPs must be women.

If not directly elected, a mechanism will be used to co-opt them to Parliament.