Justice Minister Chris Said yesterday said he was willing to begin “immediate discussions” with the Labour Party to change a controversial law which barred several Maltese people living overseas from voting.
Discussions can only take place after a nationwide ID card renewal process is completed- PL
But Dr Said insisted he would do so if the Opposition was “sincere” about its willingness to change the law.
Last Friday, the PN lashed out at Labour for filing almost 200 court applications this year to strike people off the electoral register – something the Nationalists said they had not done for 10 years.
Labour responded by saying it was ready to discuss a change in legislation but said it was not ready to ignore the Constitution in the absence of a proposal by the Government to change the law.
According to Article 57 of the Constitution, a person can only vote if he has lived in Malta for at least six of the past 18 months.
The law was criticised by many as archaic, especially after Malta’s EU membership guaranteed freedom of movement. Contacted yesterday, Dr Said pointed out that the law required a two-thirds majority in Parliament to be changed. He added that when the matter was discussed in the Select Committee earlier in this legislature, Labour was adamantly against any such changes.
However, he said he was willing to propose a change “as soon as possible”, even in time for the next election, if the Labour Party was truly committed to backing this amendment.
“We have always been in favour of changing this law. When the Constitution was written, there was no notion of going abroad for a short period to study or for a work placement. Back then, people used to emigrate for good, so the Constitution made sense,” he said, stressing the Nationalist Government’s willingness to update this law.
Minister sceptical on Labour statement
Dr Said, however, sounded sceptical about Labour’s commitment, pointing out that rather than seeking to update the law, the party had worked to use it “indiscriminately”, targeting Nationalists at the expense of their dignity and convenience.
When asked to react to Dr Said’s statement, the Labour Party said: “Discussions can only take place after a nationwide ID card renewal process is completed. The Government has failed to carry out such an exercise over the past years.”
Meanwhile, responding to questions sent on Friday, the Labour Party refused to say how many of its court applications were withdrawn or rejected for being baseless.
However, it said there were no known cases involving people who were abroad for medical treatment, vulnerable cases or students who were abroad.
“We have limited ourselves to cases that according to the information given, these persons have not resided in Malta for a substantial time,” the party said, adding that it would continue to see that the electoral register was up-to-date.