[WATCH] Nationalist Party dilly-dallies on passport for cash scheme

The Nationalist Party has filed a judicial protest against Identity Malta and the Electoral Commission, calling on them to publish a full list of eligible voters.

The judicial protest, signed by lawyer Malcolm Mifsud, states that the PN had been insisting since June 2016, that the Electoral Commission must ensure that it received a full list of persons granted Maltese citizenship from Identity Malta. The Electoral Commission was, instead, receiving incomplete lists where such persons are not included.

The Electoral Commission was not taking the necessary steps to ensure it received information about citizenship figures every month from Identity Malta, which had a legal obligation to do so, the judicial protest read. The Commission had limited itself to filing a judicial letter against the agency in October 2016, and had failed to take effective steps against the agency to enforce the legal obligation.

Asked whether the PN would do away with the IIP scheme altogether if in government, PN secretary general Clyde Puli insisted that the press conference was not about the IIP but on electoral transparency.

"When we speak of citizens in this case, the issue is not limited to the hundreds who acquired citizenship through IIP but also those who obtained citizenship in other ways such as through marriage and naturalisation," he said.

“Why are you hiding these citizens? Why are you giving an opportunity to tamper with the electoral process?” he said, adding that the Electoral Commission has a right by law to know who these people are.