The Magistrates' Court yesterday paved the way for Alternattiva Demokratika candidate Arnold Cassola to be able to vote without qualms at the next general election.

The court threw out the Malta Labour Party's application to have him struck off the electoral register on the grounds that they had failed to prove their claim that he did not satisfy the requirement of residency.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera ruled it had been up to the MLP to prove that Cassola had not spent at least six months in Malta in the last 18 months.

The only evidence brought before the court was Cassola's evidence and he had not been in a position to specify exactly how much time he had spent in Malta because he came here frequently, every month.

He also denied he had publicly declared he would be voting in the referendum although he knew he had not spent the requisite six months in Malta.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that Cassola's passport had been issued in 2003 and he did not know what he had done with his old passport.