The Labour Party would like a debate to be embarked upon so that Maltese and Gozitans eligible to vote and living abroad would, as from 2010, be able to exercise their right in Malta's embassies a day before the election.

The party was reacting to a statement issued by the Nationalist Party earlier, calling on the government to amend the Electoral Law so that people who declared that they will be abroad on June 6 - when the EP and local council elections will be held - would be allowed to vote on the Saturday before.

The PL it agreed in principle with the suggestion, as long as the necessary assurances were given that the system was not abused and that those benefitting from it were bona fide.

It said that discussions should immediately be embarked upon on this matter as well as on other proposals the PL wanted to make.

These related to the renewal of ID cards with the aim of scrapping the voting document and using ID cards by 2010.

Another PL proposal was for requests by Maltese living abroad to come to Malta to vote for the EP elections to be made to the Electoral Commission, which after making the necessary verifications would pass these on to Air Malta for follow-up.

The PL hoped for the PN's support in these matters which would strengthen the country's democracy.