Updated 4.20pm - Added Justice Ministry statement
The Nationalist Party has filed a judicial protest against Identity Malta over its persistence not to pass on the names of new citizens to the Electoral Commission.
PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said the court action was necessary since the agency that manages citizenship affairs continued to ignore the Electoral Commission.
He said Identity Malta's failure to pass on the names of new citizens every month was in breach of the constitution. This failure has led to several foreigners, who purchased citizenship through the Individual Investor Programme, to be included in the electoral register when they were not eligible to vote.
The controversy is subject of a legal wrangle between the Electoral Commission and Identity Malta.
We not only have faceless citizens of Malta but now also faceless voters
Standing outside Identity Malta’s office in Valletta and flanked by shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi and lawyer Karol Aquilina, Dr Fenech Adami said the judicial protest was also filed against Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, who is political responsible for Identity Malta.
Dr Bonnici had said a few weeks ago that he would serve as a mediator between the agency and the Electoral Commission.
The PN deputy leader insisted it was not the minister’s job to be a mediator but his duty to ensure the constitution was upheld by taking the necessary steps to ensure Identity Malta passed on the names.
The names of those who acquire citizenship are published once a year with no distinction being made between those who become Maltese through naturalisation, marriage or the IIP scheme.
“We not only have faceless citizens of Malta but now also faceless voters,” Dr Fenech Adami said with reference to those who bought citizenship.
The PN is insisting in its court protest that Identity Malta live up to its obligations.
The agency used to in the past pass on the names every month but this stopped happening when the IIP scheme was introduced.
The Electoral Commission last month filed a judicial protest against the agency in the wake of several instances flagged by the PN of individuals who were listed in the electoral register despite not fulfilling voting requirements.
These individuals were struck off the register by the court after the PN, as is every political party’s right, initiated proceedings against them.
Names are already in public domain, Justice Ministry says
In a reaction, the Justice Ministry said that the names of all those granted Maltese citizenship were published every year in the Government Gazette.
"In fact, the Opposition has instituted a number of court cases against people granted citizenship, seeking to have their name removed from the electoral register," the statement read.
The ministry said that the only question at stake was whether new Maltese citizens should be included on the register when they themselves had declared that they were not eligible to vote. Discussions on this matter, the ministry said, were "at a very advanced stage."
It accused the Opposition of "alarmism and populism" and hinted that funds raised through the IIP scheme would be used for "social projects".