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Hunters demand that Commission verify all petition signatures
FKNK chief executive officer Lino Farrugia says Electoral Commission should verify all signatures on anti-spring hunting petition and not just carry out random checks
1 April 2014, 2:15pm
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
Members of CASH at the door of the Electoral Commission with the signed petitions
Hunters’ federation FKNK has called on the Electoral Commission to verify all signatories’ of a petition calling for an abrogative referendum on the future of spring hunting in Malta.
Malta derogates from an EU ban on spring hunting every year, but a coalition of environmental groups – the Coalition Against Spring Hunting (CASH) – has collected close to 45,000 signatures for a petition for the referendum.
They required at least 10% of the electorate’s signatures to petition the government to hold a referendum.
FKNK chief executive Lino Farrugia is insisting that there is nothing stopping CASH from ‘abusing the legal interests’ of other minority groups, apart from depriving Malta of its right to derogate the EU’s ban on spring hunting.
He also claimed that the Electoral Commission “may not be verifying all signatories” but that it will only be carrying out “random checks”.
“FKNK hopes this will not be the case, since the outcome of the abolitionist referendum could have a devastating effect on the very lives of thousands of Maltese and Gozitan nationals and their families.”
44,376 signatures have been submitted to petition for an abrogative referendum on spring hunting, the Coalition Against Spring Hunting announced today.
The petitions, which have to be now validated by the Electoral Commission, should satisfy the 10% of registered voters on the electoral register.
Of the signatures, 40,351 are already registered on the electoral roll. The 10% threshold would be 33,418.
The campaigners said that the shooting of eagles in October 2013 had boosted their campaign after starting in July.
The Electoral Commission now has 15 days to verify the signatures and present a request to the Constitutional Court to request a referendum.
In the forthcoming three months, objections can be filed in court.
The first 10 signatories can file a reply to the objections and the court can then proceed with its judgement. If the court upholds the request for a referendum, it must be held within not less than three months, and by not more than six months.
This would be the first abrogative referendum Malta.
If the referendum fails, another referendum on the same subject cannot be held before the lapse of two years.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
