Dear Sir,
I refer to recent media reports confirming that the Electoral Commission has begun accepting voter registration application forms from non-Maltese EU citizens.

Following representations made by AD-The Green Party to the European Parliament Valletta Office on behalf of the 11,000 resident non-Maltese EU citizens denied their lawful right to enrol on the Maltese electoral register for the forthcoming European Parliament elections, the Electoral Commission reviewed its stance and decided to bring forward the non-Maltese EU voter registration opening date from next year to October 1st. See: The Electoral Office discriminates against EU residents in Malta and Gozo – AD: Gozonews 07/07/08 – http://gozonews.com/item/the-electoral-office-discriminates-against-eu-residents-in-malta-and-gozo-ad/.

However, even though all 12,000 resident non-Maltese EU taxpayers have already been automatically registered on the local council electoral roll on application for or renewal of their Maltese identity cards, grave practical hurdles face the 11,000 of them who have yet to enrol on the European Parliament electoral register.

Whereas a Maltese national, registering to vote for the first time, may (among other convenient options) drop into his local council, pick up a voter registration form, fill it in, sign it, jot down his identity card number and post his application, a first-time resident non-Maltese EU registrant for the European Parliament electoral roll must personally visit the Electoral Commission / Identity Card Office and present up to three identity documents to exercise the same right.

Any claims purporting to justify the ‘personal visit’ to the Electoral Commission as a precautionary measure to preclude voting twice are specious because it is already expressly provided for in the signed declaration in section C, subsection ii) of the European Parliament voter registration form itself, where it plainly states, ‘I will exercise my right to vote in Malta only’ – http://www.electoral.gov.mt/getresource.aspx?id=79.

So then, what plausible purpose could the mandatory trek to Valletta and the tramp to Rabat in Gozo to ‘personally call’ at the Electoral Commission possibly serve? Given that these arbitrarily onerous institutional requirements appear to constitute a case of prejudicial discrimination among EU nationals, are the European Parliament Valletta Office, the Electoral Commission and the Government satisfied that Malta is in full compliance with EU law in this, and other pertinent matters? The exhaustive input of AD-The Green Party regarding these issues has been formally registered at EU institutional level and I have been assured that having already imposed its EU credentials, AD will continue to enforce its rigorous standards in their implementation.

Yours faithfully,

Oisin Jones-Dillon