Cap. 363 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"advertisement" means any word, letter, model, sign, placard, board, notice, device or representation, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of and employed wholly or in part for the purposes of advertisement, announcement or direction, including any boarding or similar structure used or adapted for use for the display of advertisements;

"Association" means the Association representing the Local

Councils and Regional Councils recognized as such by the provisions of article 37(3);

"Auditor General" means the Auditor General appointed in terms of article 108 of the Constitution; "Commissioner for Justice" means any person appointed to such office according to article 3 of the Commissioners for Justice Act; "community" means any village as indicated in the Ninth Schedule; "councillor" means a member elected to the Local Council under the provisions of this Act; "Department" means the Department responsible for the monitoring and support of Local Government; "Director" means the Director General responsible for Local Government; "Electoral Commission" means the Electoral Commission established by article 60 of the Constitution; "Electronic Counting System" means the process, computer program and/or computer hardware, other equipment, data and services as may be necessary in order to:

(a) maintain relevant data in relation to the election being held;

(b) take an image of each ballot paper and interpret the preferences;

(c) establish a link between each vote stored electronically and the equivalent ballot papers by means of a unique identifier;

(d) process the collected data and ballots in such manner as to calculate the number of votes cast for each candidate at the election and determine the final result in terms of this Act and Local Councils (Elections) Regulations, 1993; and

(e) ensure the retention of proper records.

"Electoral Register" means the Electoral Register published in accordance with the provisions of the General Elections Act; "European Union Electoral Register" has the same meaning assigned to it by article 2 of the European Parliament Elections Act;

"Executive Secretary" means the person occupying the post of an Executive Secretary of a Local Council or Regional Council in accordance with this Act; "financial year" means a twelve month period starting from the 1st of January and ending on the last day of December: Provided that the Minister may, after consultation with the Auditor General, by regulations provide a different interpretation to financial year; "Governance Board" means the Local Governance Board established by means of regulations issued by the Minister; "an identification document" means an identification document issued under the Identity Card and other Identity Documents Act; "Information and Data Protection Commissioner" means the official appointed in terms of article 11 of the Data Protection Act; "Local Government" includes both the Regional Councils as well as Local Councils; "Infrastructure Malta" means Agency for Infrastructure Malta as established by the Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act; "locality" means an area within set boundaries as designated in the Second Schedule; sohowever that when a set boundary so designated passes through a road dividing two localities, both sides of such road shall form part of the locality as indicated by arrows; "Local Council" means Local Council established under this Act;

"local road" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in article 2 of the Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act;

"Malta" has the same meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution;

"Mayor" means the Mayor of a Council elected in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Local Government;

"most senior councillor" means that councillor who has been continuously serving in office and who belongs to that party or organisation which in the last Local Election elected the majority of councillors; "motion" means any proposal or recommendation made by a Councillor as provided in this Act, which shall be so registered and discussed;

''the period of time reserved for viewing" means the period of time which starts from such time when the Commission grants access to the party delegates to the images of each Electronic Ballot together with their interpretation and to the complete data set containing the preferences of voters as shown in the Electronic Ballots, and which expires four hours after the time the Commission forwards a copy of the Draft Result to party delegates in terms of regulation 13; "political party" means, except as otherwise provided for in this Act, any person or any group of persons contesting the elections of a Local Council as one group bearing the same name;

"population of a locality" means the population, published by the Minister responsible for statistics in terms of article 73;

"President" means the President of the Republic; "private road" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in article 2 of the Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act;

"public body" includes a corporation set up by an Act of Parliament, any agency that may be set up by the Government and any limited liability company in which the Government of Malta has a controlling interest; "public officer" shall have the same meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution; "public service" shall have the same meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution; "Regional Council" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Regional Councils Regulations;

"resolution" means a motion which was discussed and approved during a Local Council or Regional Council meeting, and which is so registered in the minutes of the same meeting; "road" shall have the same meaning assigned to it under article 2 of the Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act and for the purposes of this Act, where applicable, it shall also include any local road, alley, square, bridge, shore front, quay, or other place of public passage or access; "structure plan" has the meaning assigned to it by articles 44 and

72 of the Development Planning Act.