PN video slams plans to postpone local elections

The opposition has produced a video in which PN leader Simon Busuttil reiterates his disagreement with postponing the 2015 local elections.

Last month, government tabled a motion to amend the local council elections’ law, and hold the next elections in five years’ time.

Following government's controversial announcement, justice minister Owen Bonnici denied accusations that the proposal to hold local council elections every five years – instead of every three – weakened the democratic process and insisted that the proposed postponement had nothing to do with the referendum on spring hunting planned for next year.

In the video, PN leader Simon Busuttil says that the right to vote belongs to the people and nobody can take it away.

“Nobody should play around with the principles of democracy,” he says, adding that elections should never be postponed because of government’s expediencies.

A number of PN councillors, including Victoria mayor Samuel Azzopardi, Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat, former St Paul’s Bay mayor Graziella Galea and councillors Mark Anthony Sammut, Christian Micallef and Amanda Abela appear in the video.

The councillors explain that the length of local council’s term is a fundamental principle in democracy and postponing the 2015 elections would be undemocratic.

The video also underlines the amendment to the voting law allowing 16-year-olds to vote, which made reference to the 2015 local election.