Prime Minister ‘ignoring crucial point’ on 2,800 denied voters – PL

On the 2,800 voters affected by the Electoral Commission’s referendum writ, the Labour Party said the Prime Minister “is ignoring a crucial point”.

4 April 2011, 12:00am
by Miriam Dalli

1 min read

2,800 voters who turned 18 before October will not be able to vote in the divorce referendum on May 28.

In its statement, the PL said both the representative of the Nationalist Party and the Electoral Commissioners appointed by the Prime Minister had agreed with the Labour Party's proposed roadmap.

It added that according to the Electoral Commission’s legal adviser, the PL's solution would be legitimate and gives the right to vote to the young people. The PL had said the resolution approved in parliament, allows the Commission to publish the writ on 18 April after the President signs the writ within 15 days of publication.

"This would have allowed all those who turned 18 after 31 March 2011 to vote,” the PL had said in a previous statement.

“However it seems the Prime Minister has made other calculations,” the PL said. “After having reached an agreement, something or someone from above led to Lawrence Gonzi’s party to withdraw from it.”

Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...

More from Miriam Dalli

•

The fact that so much fuss is being made of 2800 young voters being unable to vote in the divorce referendum is simply an admission that voting yes or no is expected to be very close; this means that one is expecting the voting to be along party lines, thereby completely sidetracking the issue.

•

No matter, if the Divorce referendum is lost another time will be available soon and those 2800 young people who were denied the vote would then show gonzi how wrong he was. Another nail in your coffin gonz.

•

They made one plus one and realised that these new voters would in their great majority be pro-divorce. And the PN and the Church do not want, at all costs, that the divorce referendum be won. Goes on to show how arch democratic is the Partit Nazzjonalista!