The removal by the Electoral Commission of 945 non-Maltese voters from the 2009 EU Electoral Register was unlawful, Attorney General Silvio Camilleri advised Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday.
On the basis of that advice, Dr Gonzi has now asked the Electoral Office to provide a remedy so as to allow those people to cast their vote in the June 6 European Parliament elections.
He said that in view of the urgency of the matter, he expected to be informed about the remedy proposed by the Electoral Commission by next Monday.
The Prime Minister had requested advice from the AG's office regarding the lawfulness of the cancellations.
The AG concluded that the procedure used by the Electoral Commission to cancel voters was not founded at law. With all due respect to the Electoral Commission the procedure did not have any legal basis either in Malta's European Parliament Elections Act or in the relevant EU Directive, the AG said.
Under both these laws, once enrolled in the register, "persons shall remain so enrolled and can only be removed from the roll either at their own request or if they no longer satisfy the requirements for exercising the right to vote".
The Electoral Commission had decided to delete the persons who had been registered in April 2004 on certain grounds under these laws and required them to re-apply for the Electoral Register for June 2009.
From those who were originally registered in the April 2004 register only 118 reapplied and consequently 945 persons of the number originally registered (1,063) no longer appeared in the June 2009 register.
Earlier this week, the EP Office in Malta called on the Prime Minister to do everything in his power to ensure that no EU citizens residing in Malta were denied of their right to vote.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola said last night, following the AG's decision that "this is the time of reason and common sense."
The stubbornness of the Electoral Commission in not admitting its mistake had been quashed, he said.
He added that the European spirit had an open mentality and gave citizens all the means to vote freely rather than preventing them from doing so.