Voters given time to appeal removal

Voters whose name does not appear on the EU electoral register published this month but were listed in the previous one can file an appeal for a revision in order to be able to vote.

The European Commission said the appeal should be lodged with the revising officer at the Electoral Office in Evans Buildings, Valletta by May 8, during office hours.

In all, 960 EU citizens-residents who were eligible to vote in the last election were struck off because their name was not automatically carried forward to the new register but they had to re-apply.

The requirement was advertised but the European Commission Representation Office and the European Parliament Office in Malta yesterday complained the adverts were not prominent enough.

They wrote to the Electoral Commission yesterday asking it to facilitate procedures for the reinstatement of non-Maltese EU residents in the register.

In their joint letter, the head of the EP Office Julian Vassallo and the head of the Representation Office Joanna Drake asked why the EU citizens in questions were not personally notified of the intention of the Electoral Commission to exclude them from the EU electoral register.

AD thanked Dr Drake and Dr Vassallo for heeding its call and said that their intervention to safeguard the basic democratic rights of the people was praiseworthy.

The Labour Party said it was offering its services to those EU nationals wishing to be reinstated on the register. It invited those who needed help to contact the elections office at the party headquarters in Ħamrun.