Scheme for 3,000 Maltese voters living abroad

A scheme is to be announced in the coming days to encourage the 3,000 or so Maltese citizens living abroad to vote in the general election on March 8, The Sunday Times has learnt.

Drawn up by the Government and Air Malta, the scheme will offer a subsidised return air ticket for €35 (Lm15) which is valid for up to two weeks. Dependants will also be eligible under the scheme.

This will be welcome news for hundreds of Maltese living overseas who were still in the dark over details of the subsidised fares. Schemes of this nature are often available, though normally tickets are valid for just a few days.

It is still unclear whether travelling voters will have to pay the fuel surcharge on top of the €15 fare, though one individual in Brussels said that Maltese working abroad should not be paying taxes to exercise their duty.

"The system needs to be changed and Maltese should be allowed to vote from their country of residence, in an embassy or by post - as normal civilised democracies do," he said.

The same individual, who preferred to remain unnamed, said there were also concerns that if children were not included in the scheme, then the parents, or at least one of them, would not bother to vote.

It is understood that the growing Maltese community in Luxembourg is lobbying Air Malta to organise a special direct flight to Malta for the election.

Henri Darmanin, the head of Elcom, the Nationalist Party's electoral office, pointed out that it was the Labour Party, not the PN, which continued to object to an overseas voting scheme. Nevertheless, Mr Darmanin said that overseas' interest in the election was more intense than in the past.

Labour deputy leader Michael Falzon said the issue of enabling Maltese to vote overseas was not yet on the agenda, though his party was prepared to discuss this matter now that the Constitutional amendments had been hammered out.

Ultimately, Dr Falzon said, the most important thing was for the Constitutional provision on voting eligibility - which states that people must have spent six months of the last 18 months in Malta - to be respected.

However, he admitted that certain aspects of the law had made it difficult to establish one's eligibility to vote. In fact, the Labour Party has so far not filed any applications in court to disenfranchise anybody living abroad.

The issue of non-residents' eligibility to vote used to be a hot potato, especially before the 2003 election. In a ruling involving Alternattiva Demokratika's Arnold Cassola, the Civil Court had set out a broader definition of the term 'residence', stating it meant more than simply habitual physical presence in a country but included in its meaning periodic absences from the country. Thus, a person temporarily absent from Malta for reasons of study, health, work or a mission should not be considered a non-resident.

Jes Camilleri, who manages an English language school in Brighton, UK, is one of those who intends to make the journey to vote.

"I might be living in the UK, but I don't feel British. Although we're EU citizens, we have in no way lost our political or cultural identity. I still feel my home is Malta and one day I might return there," he said.

Ivan Brincat, who works with the European Commission in Brussels, also plans to vote, provided the airfare is discounted.

Like many others, Mr Brincat is wondering what is holding back the local authorities from permitting Maltese to vote overseas.

"When the French election was held, a voting booth was set up at Heysel to permit them to vote. I can't see why we cannot cast our vote at the Maltese embassy here, for example... Furthermore, as more Maltese seek to go abroad, it would also be a good idea to announce the election date well in advance."

hgrech@timesofmalta.com