Monday, 6th July 2009 - 11:40CET
Updated: Norman Lowell, Bezzina, file judicial protest over candidates' spending
European Parliament election candidates Norman Lowell and Emy Bezzina have filed a judicial protest calling for an investigation to ensure that legal provisions limiting election spending by candidates were observed in the EP elections.
The protest was filed against the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Foreign Minister, the Attorney General, the Chief Electoral Commissioner, the Police Commissioner, the European Commission representative office and the Office of the European Parliament office in Malta.
Dr Bezzina said that such investigations could only be launched at the request of the Attorney General and they were therefore asking the Attorney General to do his duty and order the Police Commissioner to investigate candidates' expenditure.
Should that not happen, Dr Bezzina said, a court case would be instituted.
Mr Lowell and Dr Bezzina said a number of candidates appeared to have broken the law which limits candidates' spending to €18,635.
Should the law have been broken, the election should be annulled, in terms of the Electoral Law, and held once more, Mr Lowell and Dr Bezzina said. None of the elected MPs should be sworn in before the investigation was concluded.
They said they were asking the authorities to investigate all spending including advertising and promotion on newspapers, online , mailshots and billboards.
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were being asked to disassociate themselves from these alleged abuses.
"A few people, bought, or stole, the election, they stole the country's political destiny," Mr Lowell said "This is a plutocracy, a government by the rich for the rich," he argued.
He also called on the President to take action, saying this was his first political test.
"This election is not over yet," Mr Lowell said.
The issue was sparked by a series of articles in The Sunday Times which started even before the EP elections. The newspaper has since shown that at least eight EP candidates appeared to have exceeded the spending cap.
The Sunday Times has also been insisting that the elected candidates account for their spending, but they have so far refused to do so.
The latest story, published yesterday, can be seen on the following link:
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Comments
Time for some credentials.
That would be tolerable if such things happened only rarely, however...
What is this? Fighting fire with fire? Is it possible that Malta completely lacks politically unbiased persons?
Viva [ il-politka ta' ] Malta.
Kind regards.
someone has got the guts to stand alone against the maltese political farse. left or right we are always being governed by a regime......................
we never learn.
"I wonder if they would have reacted in the same matter had they been elected ? "
Neither Dr Bezzina nor Mr Lowell overspent. So had they been elected they would have been fully entitled to the post. Whether this also applied to those elected is at the moment very dubious.
This issue was first brought up in respect of local council elections by "Illum". Then The Sunday Times did some serious homework and extended it to the MEP election. Messrs. Bezzina and Lowell put their money where their mouth is and did something concrete about rectifying the injustice. Did you expect the AG to take any action based on the newspaper articles?
This judicial protest has put the onus on the AG to investigate. So, it is not a matter of jumping on the bandwagon. Investigative journalism is done to increase the interest (sales) in the paper concerned. Does that detract from its value?
You are entitled not to agree with Bezzina & Lowell but that does not make them Satan & Belzebub.
Have we all forgotten what ideals these two individuals represent ?
We should be complimenting the Times of Malta for uncovering this issue not Norman and Emmy who saw an opportunity for some glory and publicity and jumped on the Times' band wagon. I wonder if they would have reacted in the same matter had they been elected ?
The real heroes in this story are the journalists at the Times and more importantly the EP candidates who have refused to take a false oath !!!!
If this case will go un-noticed, Local credibility will surely be lost!!
I have to admit, in this case Lowell and Bezzina are RIGHT!!
What is even more shocking is that both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition are not commenting on the case. Is is an obvious case of "Hokkli dahri bien inhokklok dahrek". In my opinion if they were to implement the law all MEP would have to resign and pay a hefty fine, however it was reported that the Electoral commission was not going to investigate. VERY PATHETIC.
Full credit for this one Norman!
We all know that the important in business today, is Marketing!
Marketing changes everything. Marketing Campaigne raise the Awareness & Coverage to all of the market of Malta. The more you can do the more you will participate - the more your chances go from fighting to fair to a good chance. .
And the same is true in politics. The more money you have to improve the awareness the more will be you Hit Rate.
So unless this abuse is curbed and controlled; the most sponsored (the richest budget) will be governing not the best people we have.
Assuming that they DO take this oath, will action be taken against them if it is proven that they made a false Oath/Declaration?
After all, the truth is plain to see, and who wants MEPs who are not trustworthy on such minor issues, anyway?
Rounding up, hats off to Mr.Lowell and Mr.Bezzina for doing their civic duty (again).
So, according to you, why did those MEP candidates spend 5 and 6 figure sums for their campaign? For fun? Because they are generous? Because they are stupid? Because they have more money than sense?
One candidate, who did not make it, was honest and admitted to spending €52,000 and said that it was peanuts compared to what others splashed out. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090628/local/ep-candidate-spent-euro-52-000
"The Prime Minister said last week he would be "extremely worried and disappointed" if anyone took false oath."
Becoming extremely worried and disappointed is not good enough. The Prime Minister is duty bound to take all measures possible to enforce the law and to see that whever breaks it is judged according to law. He won't let us down; will he?
This is so serious that we expect the Court and The President of Malta to take action and ask for those responsible to step down without any further delays. Either the next in line legitimate Candidate should take the post, or if need be, another Election.
Shame on those people responsible when you consider that 60% of the whole population is struggling to survive thanks to the injustices this Government, in collaboration with the Opposition (which is currently spineless), are running this Country with Dictatorship and Attitude, only the strongest survive... you do what I say.
This is the Democracy we proudly preach out loud ? ? ? ?
The issue of overspending during the MEP electoral campaign had been brought to our attention by The Times, BEFORE the actual election took place.
At that point in time only AD and a couple of other candidates (mostly from smaller parties)gave a realistic account of their spending according to the rules.
For the rest, it was blatantly obvious that they were heavily overspending. HEAVILY OVERSPENDING. It was so blatantly obvious !
Yet what did you do ? You voted for them !!!!...and practically snobbed the ones who had abided by the rules.
Now you are feeling amazed and cheated....and want justice to be done.
Most of you had condoned injustice right from the start....so stick to it now ! Stop being hypocritical and pretending that you were not aware of this obscenity when you had cast your votes !
Notwithstanding all this, hats off to Norman and Emmy ( I never imagined I would say this) for having the guts to put forward this obscene issue, on our agenda.
On the other hand is there any rule that disqualifies candidates who lied, twisted or invented things with regard to the issues we were worried about????
If not, well what can i say strange world we live in.
What you are suggesting is immoral. We are not talking about someone embezzling a few euros and then paying them back.
You seem to have become inured to this Maltese malady. I don't blame you because it is officially condoned. For example, build whatever you like, then pay a fine and it gets sanctioned. Vilify and slander your neighbour and then go to confession and say 3 Hail Marys and your sins are forgiven.
This is far more serious than that. Yes there would be a cost. But tension? What tension did you feel? Over 20% of the population was not even tensed enough to bother voting!
Just don't put words in my mouth. What I said is logic,everybody has the right of defense.
Spending during election has no bearing on democracy, it appears. The USA the most democratic country, spending for elections is surely not scrutinised. On the contrary they boast about how much they spend.
The insistence of the TOM on this subject is truly not understood, particularly its scope.
The other main parties' candidates simply uttered some comments but did not want to expose themselves to the wrath of the party heavyweights.
I also expect AD to support Emy & Norman on this.
Ultimately however, I guess the "elected" MEPs will be "asked" to pay a notional fine - and they will cling to their EP seat just the same.....but at least we have exposed their dual standards.
When it comes to money and democracy, the former influence (buy) the latter. This fact has been proven in all corners of the globe, from Lebanon, Gaza and Iran to USA, France and Great Britain.
@ All
My understanding to democracy is respecting people’s (the majority) opinion. Now, Can anybody answer this simple question please?
Is the EU democratic?
Thank you.
What you are implying is that the PLPN tandem is above the law and can ride roughshod over us mere mortals. That is an insult to Drs Gonzi & Muscat.
Whilst we are at it, dear fellas/dames, we should also demand that the last general election be annulled too, as I am morally convinced that the legal provisions limiting election spending by candidates were not observed. I might be wrong, but I have a gut feeling that I may be right.
Norman Lowell has been dreaming for quite a long time...by time and time again...he's proven right all the time!
In this regard, please see ‘Stick to the law, lie or cheat’:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090604/letters/stick-to-the-law-lie-or-cheat
Oisin Jones-Dillon
So you prefer electing an MEP elected by breaking the law than electing an MEP for accountability? Is this how you vote? Incredible! Giving up democracy for the sake of not having another election. Some people haven't matured yet!
I'm actually agreeing with Norman Lowell on something.
If there was overspendings it was all round and to expect the PL and the PN not to join forces to protect their stations is a bit too rich.
Stop dreaming Norman.
The Maltese voter has the right to know for sure that their elected MEPs have acted according to the Law - just like everybody else has to !!!!
I sincerely hope that we are not regaled with another nauseating farce where OUR LAW IS STRICT WITH THE WEAK AND WEAK WITH THE STRONG.
Dear Norman and Emmy, please keep up the good work. Nobody else seems to have the vitality or the will to counter these numerous and recurring anomalies in our political environment.
Quote: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil (or in this case the breaking of the Law) is for good men to do nothing about it."
Edward Burke (political theorist, and philosopher)
I think Lowell used the work Plutocracy out of context. He should have mentioned it in the last election, not the MEP election. Plutocracy refers to the dozen millionares in Malta who are financing the parties and thus influencing legislation to their benefit. We know who these people are. You can see them in every election in the counting halls behing the perspex! Both parties have them, and it seems like they're happy to have them around!
However, notwithstanding the fact that the elected candidate broke the law, I really dont thing that the country needs another election right now. Such elections slow the economy down and I really dont think that we need that. What is done is done...lets just sit back and observe attentively which wrong buttons the labour candidates will press.
PL - 54 PER CENT
PN - 44 PER CENT
By the way, PER CENT is not % but every cent spent by every candidate.
I did not vote Normal Lowell or Dr. Bezzina but this time both of them are right without any doubt. Even the common citizen is awaiting the outcome of this saga (or farce) of the EP
Election and expects that justice is done and that the right message about law enforcement is sent across the board.
MAY YOU BE SUCCESSFULL WITH YOU JUDICAL PROTEST!
THIS MEP ELECTION WAS WON BY THE ONES WHO COULD AFFORD IT......
Yet they are being more than presumptuous in calling for the election results to be annulled.
If those people who are representing us break the law what example do they set to the common man who voted for them, and what right do they have to protest when other laws are broken.
Now let see if the police take action, let see if anyone from the untouchable super elite class gets behind bars.