Tuesday, 13th May 2008
Voting by expatriates should be limited to taxpayers, says Evarist Bartolo
Labour leadership aspirant Evarist Bartolo
Labour leadership aspirant Evarist Bartolo has proposed that only those people who pay taxes should be allowed to vote in the general election if they reside abroad.
Speaking on the television programme Realtà on Smash Television last night, Mr Bartolo claimed that most of the people brought over to Malta to vote at the general election were Nationalist Party (PN) supporters and most of them did not even have the right to vote.
Mr Bartolo said it did not make sense that people living abroad were brought over to Malta to vote and then leave the country, "lumping" a government on people who remain in Malta.
His comment follows a recent remark he made on similar lines, that there were more Labourites than Nationalists in Malta because at the last election the PN received about 4,200 votes from Maltese who lived abroad and who left the island after the election.
At the last election, the PN won a relative majority of 1,500 votes, winning a one-seat majority in Parliament.
According to the Constitution, a person is eligible to vote if s/he is a citizen of Malta, is 18 years old and has resided in Malta for a continuous period of six months or periods amounting to six months in the last 18 months before being registered as a voter.
Mr Bartolo said the Labour Party made the mistake not to have "cleared" the electoral register of those people who had no right to vote at the general election.
If elected MLP leader, he would work towards only allowing taxpayers to vote, with the exception of diplomats working abroad and those studying in another country. He described this as "a principle of democracy".
During the rest of the programme, Mr Bartolo spoke about several issues including a rumour that the post he really wanted was that of deputy leader for party affairs. He said that had he wanted the latter post, he would have contested that post.
He criticised the party's electoral campaign, saying that the campaign leading up to it was actually better.
The former Education Minister said that as party leader he would go from door to door to speak to every person who, for some reason or other, no longer voted for the MLP. During his meetings with party delegates he was informed that 300 MLP supporters in Cospicua, 200 in Żebbuġ, another 300 in Birkirkara and another 300 in Qormi, just to mention as few, did not vote for the MLP.
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Comments
What would also result from what Mr. Bartolo is proposing is that those Maltese people who are temporarily working in other countries are totally disenfranchised from any right to vote. Frankly I cannot see any 'principle of democracy' in this. For example, a Maltese citizen residing abroad in an EU country can only vote in that country's municipal elections and in the European Parliament elections, but not in that country's general elections.
I think what really should be discussed in future is the eventuality of stopping this 'flying-in circus' and giving these citizens the possibility of voting in their countries of residence, as the citizens of so many other democratic nations already do.
As things stand today - one has to spend an aggregate of six months or six months staight within the last year and a half prior to voting. This is the law. Only exemption Maltese officials working at Malta Embassies abroad. All the rest fall within the parameters of illegality.
The residency clause makes sense, especially for Malta, and in principle. People who should vote in general elections should be those who are directly effected by the decisions of whom they elect. Now, there should be no problems for government employees serving the country abroad and in foreign institutions, whatever the length, cause these are the extension of the civil service.
But not other cases. Once one have left forever, to wherever, interest and citizenship alone will not entitle him to vote. That they do it in other countries, does not mean it is a right thing to do. Residency must remain a requirement.
On the other hand, the MLP had all the time to check the electoral register. But apparently take took everything for granted.
There is freedom of movement in the EU. Indeed, there is officially no clear way to track travellers within the Schengen area. So exactly how can the Maltese authorities work out the exact amount of time a citizen spends outside Malta?
The constitution should be clear and simple. Every citizen should have the right to vote. Period.