PL in renewed attempt to strike off voters from electoral registry

Labour has defended a decision to present a number of court writs to strike off voters from the latest electoral register issued in October 2011.

Maltese law gives political parties the right to ask for names of voters who are away from the island for a period of six months throughout the last year and a half, to be struck off from the electoral register. The same applies for the mentally infirm who are no longer able to vote.

In comments to MaltaToday, the Labour party said it believed that "all legal avenues should be implemented by the Electoral Commission to ensure a clean electoral process."

The PL justified the writs presented in court by shifting the blame onto the PN. "Unfortunately, the GonziPN government has failed to implement measures to ascertain that the registered voters are in fact eligible to vote according to the Constitution. Moreover it wilfully postponed the implementation of the ID card renewal, clearly showing that the GonziPN administration is not committed to implement all the necessary safeguards to ensure fair elections."

Labour said it has taken various measures to ensure fair elections, including presenting the writs in accordance with the Elections Act. "One wonders why the Nationalist Party opted to criticise Labour's actions to ensure a transparent electoral process. Labour shall continue to utilise all legal avenues to ensure that the will of the people is respected," a party spokesperson said, referring to reports by Nationalist media that revealed the presentation of the court writs.

On its part, Nationalist party information officer Frank Psaila said that while Labour leader Joseph Muscat was sending thousands of emails asking people for their vote, he has embarked on an exercise to try and deny people from their right to vote.

Psaila said the PN has not presented applications in court to strike off voters from the electoral register. However, he did not commit himself on whether the PN will not present any court writs in the coming weeks.

In 2003 both the PN and PL had applied to the Magistrates' Court claiming that thousands of voters did not satisfy the residence requirements established by law in order to be eligible to vote. The two parties also attempted to strike off persons from the register on grounds of "mental infirmity". The courtrooms were the scene of absurd hearings in which a number of elderly persons were summoned to prove their mental ability to vote.

In a statement, Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Michael Briguglio said it was unbelievable that Labour was again resorting to methods reminiscent of parties that do not trust citizens with their voting rights. "This only confirms that there is only one progressive party in Malta, namely Alternattiva Demokratika. If people want real change from fossilized politics, they should vote Green."

Prof. Arnold Cassola, AD spokesperson on EU affairs said Labour was back to its "old days". "It seems the Labour Party never learns its lesson and, as it had done with me in 2003 when I was serving as the only non-EU citizen ever elected secretary-general of a European Political Party, it is trying to strike off the electoral register Maltese citizens who are contributing to the welfare and prestige of our country. If the PL is so keen on striking off Maltese citizens working and operating from abroad, it should start off with its four MEPs Attard Montalto, Scicluna, Cuschieri and Grech, who spend more time in Brussels and the rest of the world than in Malta."

Before the critical 2003 election that coincided with a referendum on accession to the European Union, Labour had filed a total 1,100 court applications, including 100 cited for their "mental inability", while the PN had filed 1,300 such applications, of whom 500 were claimed to have mental incapacity.

In July 2002 amendments to the law regulating qualification of voters failed to make it through parliament when Labour MPs voted against. The bill proposed to curtail the categories of people who would lose the right to vote even if they were temporarily resident abroad for a longer period than normally allowed by the Constitution.

Prior to the EU referendum in 2003 the PL tried to strike off Alternattiva Demokratika's Arnold Cassola from the electoral register because Labour claimed that he did not satisfy the legal residency requirements. Cassola filed a constitutional case and argued that he was a Maltese citizen and a prospective candidate in the 2003 general elections.

Despite pending proceedings for the cancellation of his voting rights, Cassola voted in the 8 March EU referendum, nearly causing a riot with the Labour supporters toeing the line at the polling station in Pembroke. On 21 March the court ruled that "residence does not mean a physical presence in the country".

The landmark ruling said: "A person abroad for study or work purposes may still be directly and continuously concerned with political activity in his country of residence and there lies no justification for the denial of that person's right to vote. Any other interpretation of the word 'residence' that is, a continuous physical presence in the country, could lead to a denial of the right to vote to a person having a direct and personal interest in the country's future and this in violation of Article 3 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights."

Ultimately, Cassola won his case before the reviewing officer because Labour failed to prove that he had been absent from Malta at all in the 18 months prior to the election in which Cassola voted and stood as a candidate.