(Adds Iva Movement's condemnation + PN statement)

The Nationalist Party threw back at Labour an accusation the latter had made earlier - that the government was denying 2,800 young people the right to vote in the forthcoming divorce referendum, saying these young people were not being given the opportunity to vote only because of the way Labour's motion had been formulated.

Earlier today, the Labour Party said that all those who turned 18 after last October 1 will not be able to vote in the Divorce Referendum being held on May 28.

It said that this situation could have been rectified had a proposal by the Opposition appointed electoral commissioners been accepted.

These proposed the signing of the referendum writ following the publication of the April electoral register. But although the Electoral Commission in general originally agreed with the proposal, the commissioners nominated by the Prime Minister changed their position and refused.

This, the PL said in a statement, was anti-democratic behavior by Dr Gonzi’s party.

The move was later condemned by the Iva Movement.

It said that those being denied the opportunity were being denied a democratic right which they could have easily been given had the referendum writ been published in mid-April.

But the PN said this afternoon that Dr Muscat's motion, approved on March 16, had established that the President's writ should be signed within 15 days of its approval, that is by March 31.

So it was only Dr Muscat who was responsible. It was a serious admission for the PL to admit that the commissioners nominated by the leader of the opposition had proposed playing around the electoral law to keep the writ from being published.

The PN said that the Electoral law and established practice on the publication of the writ was clear. As soon as the President signed the writ this was immediately published by the commissioner. So it was not true that this could have retained the writ's publication by 18 days, until a new register was published.