PN accuses Labour of denying citizens their right to vote

The Nationalist Party condemns Labour for presenting applications in court for voters to be struck off the electoral registry.

23 June 2012, 12:00am
by Miriam Dalli

2 min read

The Nationalist Party this morning issued a statement condemning the Labour Party for presenting a number of applications in court for "several Maltese and Gozitans to be struck off the electoral registry, taking away their right to vote in elections".

"Instead of defending the rights of voters, Labour is doing everything to deny people their right to vote. The PL is going through the electoral registry with a partisan interest to see that certain voters are removed," the PN's communication office said.

Back in January, Labour had 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 had said it believed that "all legal avenues should be implemented by the Electoral Commission to ensure a clean electoral process."

"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 also said it had 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.

Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...

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Li tgħid li il Partit Laburista jrid iċċaħħad lill-xi ħadd mill-vot hi gidba sfaċċata ala GonziPN . Il-Partit Nazzjonalista hu komdu li għawn il-maġġoranza tal-karti ta' l-identita mhux aġġornati , ħalli jkun jista jinganna bħall ma dejjem għamel fil-passat . Dwar dawn ir-rikorsi , li kull Partit għamel minnhom , ma jkunx il-partit li jiddeċiedi jekk persuna għandiex titħalla tivvota , imma tkun il-Qorti li tiddeċiedi dan . Mela meta il-Qorti tasal biex tgħid li persuna ma għandiex dritt li tivvota , dan tkun għamlitu wara li tkun rat kull punt u l-virgola li tgħid il-liġi elettorali dwar min għandu dritt li jivvota .

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Why are the PN screaming murder? They conveniently forget that in the divorce referendum last year the PN denied thousands of young voters from having their say? A case of absent-mindedness or hypocrisy?

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Of course the HYPOCRITES would love to forget the fact that gonzi refused for the electoral registry to be ammended before the Divorce referendum striking off 1600 people's right to vote. I am surprised how these charlatans keep finding support.

Mark Fenech •

If the persons have a right to vote, Court will not uphold PL's applications, so PN's reasoning is totally incorrect. A party seeking to cover its interests is not acting undemocratically.

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JIDHER LI GONZIPN IRIDU LI JIVVUTAW NIES LI M'GHADX GHANDHOM DRITT GHAL-VOT ! MHUX TA' B'XEJN LI DWAR L-I.D.CARDS GHADHOM SA LLUM MA BIDLUHOMX !!!!!

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The PN should note dare open its mouth is these circumstances. They have note rectified the Id cards issue in their thirst to retain their hold on power. They do the same thing when they also strike off names from the electoral register. And, worst still, they use their power of incumbency to the max to steal votes at the nation's expense. Bunch of hypocritss that they are.

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Sewwa jghidu li kieku l-gemel jara hotobtu jaqa' u jmut zoptu. Tal-PN insew meta ma riedux li l-VOT ikun mat-18-il sena u vvutaw kontra meta l-PL ghamel dik il-ligi. Tal-PN insew li huma kontra li fil-Kunsilli Lokali jithallew jivvutaw dawk li ghalqu is-16-il sena. Tal-PN insew li kienu kontra l-vot ghal kulhadd ghax qabel kien ghal dawk li kellhom proprjeta' u kellhom vot f'kull lokal fejn kellhom il-proprjeta',kontra l-vot lin-nisa, kontra l-pensjoni, kontra l-paga miniima nazzjonali, kontra l-paga lin-nisa l-istess paga bhall-irgiel, kontra l-bonus u kontra kull haga ohra li taghti xi dritt lill-klassi tal-haddiema liema drittijeit kollha inghataw mill-PL.

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Dorks.....if the law states you are not eligible you CANNOT vote. There should be fines imposed on anyone who does not declare that he is not eligible and votes. THAT IS FRAUD. BTW the PN has also done this and has struck people off the voting list but then again they probably believe that they have the right to choose who is eligible, they are a superior race.

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Insew tal-PN li huma wkoll kienu jaghmle dawn ir-rikorsi? Fuq kollox, min m'ghandux drittt jivvota skond il-ligijiet ta' Malt am'ghandux jithalla jivvota. La l-PN qed jghidu kontra li l-PL jmixi mal-ligi u jaqta' barra lil dawek li m'ghandhomx dritt jivvutaw sinjal li l-PN huwa favur il-ksur tal-ligi u l-korruzzjoni. Min jaf ghalferjn? Min jaf kif il-PN rebah lahhar elezzjoni b'sieq wahda ta' banketta? Min Jaf? Min JAf?

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Dear PN, why don't you renew the ID Cards so that we may know who has the right to vote and who has not? It is as easy as that. The PL is vigilant to see that no one without right votes.

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Insewh il-passat dawn? Insew kemm ghamlu eluf ta rikorsi dawn l issa qedin jilabuha tal-vitmi? Insew ukoll li Dr Gonzi hada kontra il-Rieda tal-Maggoranza fil-Referendum tad-Divorzju? Kemm hawn min huwa Ippoktita.

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Kif jghidu bl-ingliz: more of the same - fi kliem iehor: gonzipn fi hsiebu juza l-istess tattika tal-2008 .... il-famuza power of incumbency jigifieri juza s-sahha u r-rizorsi tal-gvern biex jixtri l-voti permezz ta' pjaciri, amnestiji, favuri, permessi, promozzjonijiet, ... u wkoll billi jaraw jistghux jivvutaw nies li jafu li huma nazzjonalisti izda li ghal xi raguni jew ohra skond il-kostituzzjoni tilfu d-dritt ghall-vot ... sakemm jafu li huma blu, jaraw kif jaghmlu biex ikunu jistghu jivvutaw ghalkemm ma jkollhomx dritt li jaghmlu hekk ... u allura min jipprova jnaqqi lil dawn il-persuni li qed jizzufjettaw b'dak li tghid il-kostituzjoni jaghmlu hazin .... hekk nibqghu tarawx .... u ma ghandi ebda dubju li dak in-nhar tal-elezzjoni jippruvaw itawwlu l-hin tal-votazzjoni, issa tara .... mhux hekk ghamlu d-darba li ghaddiet u giethom tajba? ....

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cara, il pn jaqbel mal abbuzi allura.

Zack Depasquale •

If one doesn't have a right to vote he shouldn't vote and that's that.Lately GonziPN are playing the role of victims in everything Labour does. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.

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For those who would start condemning the PL... 1. applications are sent to the Court for a decision by the Court 2. Witnesses and against whom the application was made are duly notified in court to attend. 3. If they do not show up the court postpones the case for another hearing. 4. The applicable law is the Constitution which states who has the right to vote. 5. Once all evidence shows that persons are no longer eligible, they will be struck off. 6. Most important even PN submitted applications in Court which are heard on the same day as those of the PL. Names and other information can be provided and secondly the session is public and scrutinized by a member from the Electoral Office. Regards

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So the Courts must be accomplices! - The usual puerile election mode smear campaigns appear to have begun.

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Do you remember when EFA tried to eliminate Voters of certain age saying they are mentally infirm and had to prove otherwise to vote