European Movement urges strong voter turnout

The European Movement (Malta) is urging all eligible voters to exercise their right to vote in the elections to the European Parliament.

The movement said the European Parliament had a unique role to play in the decisions taken at the European Union level and in world affairs in general. It also had an important role to play in the process of further uniting Europe and most of all in directly representing the wishes of the peoples of Europe in this process.

The European Movement (Malta) said that by participating in these elections, voters would be showing their confidence in Europe and that a vote in these elections was a vote for European unity.

"When voting, citizens ought to be guided by a number of reasonable principles based on common sense: the good of the country and of the Union should come first; the commitment of the candidate towards strengthening European unity; his or her eligibility to truly represent the broadest cross-section of the Maltese people in the EU and to be a good and active participant in the European Parliament; his or her sense of judgement and sense of moderation in words and deeds," it said.

The European Movement said it was not entirely satisfied with the style of campaigning which took place over the past few weeks and appealed to all political forces to turn a new leaf in Maltese politics, an opportunity that membership of the EU clearly provided.

"This is not an election about who should govern Malta but about who and how Europe should be governed. The European Movement (Malta) urges those who support European unity not to vote for candidates who have openly said that they would again vote against Europe if given a second chance. Those who do not respect the twice expressed will of the majority are going against one of the most fundamental principles of democracy," it said.