The right to vote

Claire Cassar Torreggiani writes:
I am the widow of a Maltese citizen, hold a British passport (with freedom of movement), pay my taxes at Maltese rates and have been residing in Malta for 34 years.

In view of the above, could you please confirm or otherwise whether, as a European citizen living here permanently, I shall have the right to vote in the next general election under the same conditions as a Maltese national?

The right to vote in the general elections in Malta is reserved to Maltese citizens only and therefore you will not be able to vote in the Maltese general national elections until and unless you have acquired Maltese citizenship.

The right to vote has little to do with whether you pay taxes in Malta. Nor does the fact that you are an EU citizen entitle you to acquire the right to vote in general elections in Malta.

The right to vote in general elections is not regulated by EU law. The EU does not get into whether and how a person who has long been residing in an EU country, such as yourself, should have the right to vote in general elections.

Nor does the fact that you are residing here permanently has any bearing from an EU point of view because it is your citizenship that is of relevance. Since you do not have Maltese citizenship you cannot vote in general elections in Malta.

I stress the word "general elections" or the elections of the House of Representatives in Malta because the EU does regulate the right to vote in two other cases - local council elections and the European Parliament elections.

This means that EU law does give you, as an EU citizen residing in an EU country other than your own, the right to vote in local elections as well as in the European Parliament elections. But this right is limited to local and European elections. Not to national general elections.

It seems unreasonable that someone who has lived in another country for so long should not have the right to vote in general elections. Yet, the reason why the EU does not deal with this issue should not be hard to understand. Unlike local and European elections, national elections produce national governments. And few governments are willing to give up national control over who is entitled to vote in order to elect them.

This is why EU countries failed to agree on extending voting rights in national elections to EU citizens residing within their territory.

So, instead, eligibility to vote in national elections often remains regulated in national constitutions rather than EU law. For instance, in our case, article 57 of the Constitution lists the qualification of voters for the election of the House of Representatives of Malta.

A person can be registered to vote if he or she is a citizen of Malta and has attained the age of 18 years. But in addition, s/he must also be resident in Malta and has been residing in Malta for an aggregate period of six months during the 18 months immediately preceding the registration.

This last point is particularly interesting because it means that nationality and age are not sufficient on their own - there is also a residence requirement that must be respected. The residence requirement stipulates that a voter must have been residing in Malta for a duration of, at least, six months during the previous year-and-a-half.

By way of exception, the Constitution adds that the residence requirement does not apply to persons who are working outside Malta "by reason of service abroad in the public service, including service in the offices referred to in sub article (3) of article 124 of this Constitution, or by reason of service abroad in, or as a member of, a disciplined force as defined in article 47 of this Constitution".

These people retain their right to vote despite the fact that they may not fulfil the residence requirement.

The offices referred to in article 124(3) of the Constitution are the Prime Minister or other minister, a parliamentary secretary, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, a member of the House of Representatives, a member of a commission established by the Constitution, an ambassador, high commissioner or other principal representative of Malta in any other country, a member of any council, board, panel, committee or other similar body established by or under any law.

This is a tricky provision because it may mean that persons who are working abroad, as a result of their right to free movement within the EU, may well be running the risk of losing their right to vote in Malta. The provision exempts all those who work outside Malta "by reasons of service abroad in the public service". However, all the rest would be running the risk if they are based permanently abroad.

This would arguably include the hundreds of people who are now working abroad with the European Union institutions, possibly even Malta's EU Commissioner himself. Thankfully, it does not cover members of the European Parliament who spend more than a third of their time in Malta for constituency reasons.

But questions may be raised on whether this limitation on the right to vote envisaged by the Constitution is compatible with fundamental EU rights such as the right to free movement within the EU. That would not be an easy case to make. But there is clearly a lot to be said on whether this constitutional provision continues to be relevant in this day and age.

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