Letters | Sunday, 03 May 2009

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Disenfranchised voters

I am unsure of the rights afforded to foreign nationals who reside in other EU countries with regard to their voting rights and procedure to adopt to ensure they are legally included in any electoral register of those countries.
However, I am in a position to categorically state the position of such with regard to British and Maltese nationals residing respectively in each others countries. For in the UK a Maltese citizen whose name appears on the electoral register is granted permission to continuously remain on such register until such time as they advise the authorities otherwise, for there is absolutely no requirement to ever re-apply as various elections arise. Moreover, Maltese subjects enrolled on the UK electoral register are granted the privilege of being allowed to vote in each and every election, including the parliamentary (general)election, and are not confined (restricted) to local council or EU-related elections. These UK voting rights and privileges granted to Maltese citizens residing in the UK are regrettably and unaccountably not reciprocated by the Maltese authorities to UK citizens living in Malta whose name appears on the Malta electoral register.
Could the authorities kindly explain why such discrimination and non-reciprocation exists; and where such provisions appear in the European Parliamentary law statute allowing such anomalies?

Peter Murray
Mosta

In respect of the 960 non-Maltese EU citizens recently struck off the European Union electoral register on grounds which are now a source of very harsh contention, one can only but deduce the following conclusion: if even a little bit of Europe cannot be part of Malta, how can Malta ever be part of Europe?

Oisin Jones-Dillon
St Paul’s Bay

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