Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/257374
MiriaM Dalli The Maltese government is "ana- lysing" a request by the european Commission to amend laws that disenfranchise voters living abroad. Under Maltese law, citizens are disenfranchised if they have not re- sided in Malta for at least six months in the 18 months immediately pre- ceding national elections. But in its guidance to five member states, including Malta, the Com- mission wants nationals who make use of their right to free movement in the eU to retain their right to vote in national elections if they demonstrate a continuing interest in the political life of their country, including by applying to remain on the electoral roll. The eC said that member states should also ensure that nationals applying to remain on the electoral roll should do so electronically. Asked whether the government was planning any changes to nation- al laws to fall in line with the Com- mission's guidance, a spokesperson for parliamentary secretary for jus- tice Owen Bonnici said they "are currently analysing the request". No further comment was forth- coming. Malta's disenfranchisement of voters was an instrument invoked by political parties prior to gen- eral elections, to file court writs de- manding that a voter living abroad loses their right to vote. In 2003, the Labour Party filed a court writ to deny Arnold Cassola, then the secretary-general of the european Federation of Green Par- ties and based in Brussels, his right to vote in the 2004 elections and eU accession referendum. The subsequent constitutional case upheld Cassola's right to vote in the elections, as well as to run as a candidate for Alternattiva Demokratika. "The Commission's request is very clear and I don't think it's a coinci- dence that it came out on the same day that Malta and the eU reached an agreement on the citizenship programme," Cassola told MaltaTo- day. "The Commission seems to be applying the same principle that, if a 12-month residence is sufficient to obtain citizenship, then nationals should not lose their right to vote." Cassola said it stands to reason that Maltese nationals living and working in Brussels, Luxembourg, London and more should not be de- prived of their voting right. "The Commission's guidance basically confirms what the Con- stitutional Court said in my case. Residence does not mean physical presence in Malta but habitual resi- dence," he said. Cassola added that the court's definition of residence "goes against the Maltese electoral law" whereby Maltese citizens living abroad are struck off the electoral register if they spend less than six months – over an 18-month period ¬– in Malta. "This is what, in my opinion, has to change in the electoral law," he said, reiterating Alternattiva Demokra- tika's call for the possibility of Mal- tese working abroad to vote in the nearest embassy. "The majority of member states try and facilitate the citizen's right to vote," Cassola said. Vice-President and eU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding de- scribed the right to vote as one of the fundamental political rights of citizenship. "It is part of the very fabric of de- mocracy. Depriving citizens of their right to vote once they move to an- other eU country is effectively tan- tamount to punishing citizens for having exercised their right to free movement. Such practices risk mak- ing them second-class citizens," Reding said. The Commission said that eU citizens hit by such legislation have repeatedly urged the Commission to take action. In the 2013 eU Citi- zenship Report, the eC pledged to address the matter. "I hope member states will be ready to address these very concrete concerns, because disenfranchise- ment is a big deal for the individuals concerned," Reding said. The rules vary considerably, with Cypriot citizens losing their vote if they have not resided in Cyprus six months prior to an election, while British citizens need to have been registered to vote at an address in the UK over 15 years. There are other member states which allow their eU nationals to maintain the right to vote under certain conditions, such as Austria, which requires citizens residing abroad to periodically renew their registration on the electoral roll, or Germany, which requires citizens to be familiar with and affected by na- tional politics or to have resided in Germany for at least three months during the last 25 years. News maltatoday, Sunday, 9 february 2014 Government 'analysing' EU's request to amend electoral laws Arnold Cassola