Maltese citizens should be able to vote abroad, PD says

Maltese citizens who live abroad should be able to vote without having to fly down to Malta, the Democratic Party has said.

It said that presenting alternative ways for Maltese to vote from abroad would save time and money. “Electronic counting is surely a step forward in Maltese elections once security is guaranteed, though it need not be mutually exclusive with other methods.”

"It has been six years since the Nationalist and Labour Parties agreed to find a way to make it easier for Maltese abroad to vote in Maltese elections,” MEP candidate Martin Cauchi Inglott said, while questioning why this has not been done.

“This is a crucial moment in which we can either take a step forward and make a commitment to provide Maltese living abroad with a convenient way to participate in our democracy. I spent eight years abroad serving Malta, and yet was faced with these same challenges."

MEP candidate Anthony Buttigieg said that both major parties were only paying lip service to the idea of accessible voting.

"The Prime Minister said in November that a consultation was underway on finding a secure e-voting from abroad. What has happened to that consultation, and why has the government seemingly settled on embassy voting, and ignored tried and tested alternatives?" he said.  

Camilla Appelgren, another one of the party’s MEP candidates said that “after the fight we’ve had” about EU citizens’ right to easily register to vote in Malta, she totally understood the frustration of Maltese not being able to vote abroad.  

In it’s statement, the party also pointed out that parliament will today pass through the second and third readings for the constitutional amendment related to the General Elections Act, for provisions for provisions linked to the electronic ballot counting system, which is set to be introduced in the May elections.

“Partit Demokratiku notes that after protesting the matter in the current version of the proposed Bill, political parties will no longer be able to keep electronic copies of scanned ballots after the official election results are published,” the party said, adding that this would guarantee that voters remain anonymous.

PD said that it was “high time that the General Election Act offers a level playing field with fair and unbiased corrective mechanisms for all parties,” following the presentation of an alternative way for Maltese abroad to vote.

The party said that Malta’s political scenario created privileged networks and the concentration of power that prevent democracy and that as things stood, the General Elections Act did not create a level playing field between third parties and the “current establishment” due the corrective mechanisms in place.

It stressed that a multi-party system would provide another tier of democratic checks and balances.