The European Commission is investigating Malta’s deletion of non-Maltese EU citizens from the electoral register following last year’s European Parliament elections.

Alternattiva Demokratika said in a statement that after it had exposed the matter,Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was advised by the Attorney-General to instruct the Electoral Commission to reinstate those voters on the electoral register.

AD spokesman for EU and international affairs Arnold Cassola said:

“The European Commission is now investigating this irregular behaviour by the Maltese Electoral Commission and is also making enquiries to ascertain if there are other instances of discrimination vis a vis EU citizens residents in Malta with regards to their voting rights in European Parliament elections.”

AD chairman Michael Briguglio said AD would remain active to ensure that all those entitled to vote in elections, whether general, local or European, would be entitled to exercise this fundamental right.

“Unfortunately, both the Nationalist and Labour Parties do not seem to consider all voters as being equal in their rights,” he said.

AD said it was, in the meantime in possession of the most recent submission to the European Commission, by resident Oison Jones-Dillon in this regard.

This correspondence points that the Maltese Electoral Commission composed of representatives from the opposition Labour Party and the governing Nationalist Party, denied non-Maltese EU citizens the right to even enrol on the (Maltese) European Parliament electoral register until October 1, 2008.

As a consequence, of the 21,124 non Maltese EU citizens presently enrolled on the local council electoral registers, only 2,604 were likewise enrolled on the European Parliament one.

he disenfranchised 18,520 constitute over five per cent of the entire European Parliament electorate in Malta.

ALDE MEP Robert Rochefort Deeply has tabled a written question to the European Commission.