Parties argue on young people made ineligible to vote...while they agree on alternative system

UPDATED - While the political parties argued this week about how at least 2,800 young people will not be able to vote in the referendum because their 18th birthday came after the publication of the October electoral register, it was revealed today that the political parties already agree on an alternative system which will prevent this sort of situation.

Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami said this morning that in the meetings of the Select Committee for Democratic Change he had proposed a system for a rolling electoral register - a system which would have provided for ongoing updating of the register and prevented the current controversy where 2,800 young people will not be able to vote in the divorce referendum because their birthday came after the publication of the electoral register.

Progress had been made on the proposal, he said, but then the Opposition walked out of the committee and everything stopped. He said that another proposal made to the committee would have avoided the current situation where people were sometimes taken to polling stations on stretchers.

Dr Fenech Adami was speaking on the Radio Malta programme Ghandi Xi Nghid. The Opposition walked out of the committee last year in protest over a decision taken by the Speaker in Parliament following a vote on power tariffs.

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said the government had shown lack of commitment for progress in the select committee.

"The committee was moribund" he said, adding that progress on amendments to the electoral law could have still been made in further talks also involving (Labour MP) Michael Falzon.

Referring to the current controversy, Dr Fenech Adami said the proposal for the Electoral Commission to delay publication of the President's writ for the holding fo the referendum to beyond the electoral register publication cut-off date was undemocratic.

He also pointed out that fewer young people would miss voting in the referendum than at the last general election.

LABOUR PARTY AGREES

In a reaction, Labour Party spokesman Michael Falzon said that everybody agreed with the proposal to have a rolling register. There was also agreement on other proposals to make it easier for eligible voters to exercise their right to vote.

He said the PN, however, had opposed various PL proposals, particularly on voting at St Vincent de Paule Home for the Elderly, which would have made it easier for the people there to vote.

Dr Falzon said it was the government which had 'killed off' the select committee by not convening meetings for many months, to the extent that Labour MPs speaking in Parliament had called for meetings to be held.

He also pointed out that the number of 2,800 young people who cannot vote in the referendum only included those young people whose birthday fell between the publication of the October register and the cut-off date for the publication of the April register. There will be more who will not be eligible to vote despite turning 18 by the time the referendum is held on May 28.

(The October electoral register is to be used for the referendum since the President's writ for the holding of the referendum was issued before the publication of the April register).

AD CALLS FOR CHANGE

In a press conference this morning, Michael Briguglio, AD chairman, balmed both political parties in parliament for the fact that 2,800 young people cannot vote.

"Not only have they devised legislation which excludes other political parties and movements from the referendum electoral process, but they are also both to blame for the exclusion of 2,800 18 year old voters from the forthcoming divorce referendum. Instead of blaming each other both parties should reach parliamentary consensus to allow these voters to exercise the basic right to vote".

Dirk Urpani, AD spokesman for Youth and Sports, said: " Instead of fighting over how to prevent 2,800 young people from voting, our Government should be seeking to introduce the 16+ vote so that this democracy can be more representative. In itself, the fact that some people who will not be entitled to vote will be 18 years and 8 months old clearly shows that Malta's electoral system requires change".