Cassola determined to vote

Alternattiva Demokratika's spokesman for EU Affairs, Arnold Cassola is determined to vote in the referendum and said he would do so openly, even informing the media about the time he would go to vote.

Prof. Cassola, who is also the secretary general of the European Greens, was reacting to comments made by MLP general secretary Jimmy Magro, who said at the MLP annual conference on Wednesday it would be a criminal act for Prof. Cassola to vote when he knew he was not eligible to do so.

The MLP in November filed an application for Prof. Cassola to be struck off the electoral register on the grounds that he had not been in Malta for the time stipulated in the electoral law.

AD is objecting to the application, saying it was a breach of Prof. Cassola's fundamental human rights and wrote to the President asking him to intervene.

The President's secretary subsequently referred the letter to the secretary generals of both the Nationalist Party and the MLP for their action.

Mr Magro said on Wednesday that irrespective of any presidential intervention, Prof. Cassola knew he was not eligible to vote and that he would be liable to police prosecution if he did, facing a Lm500 fine and/or a six-month jail term.

Prof. Cassola, who was yesterday on his way to Malta from Strasbourg, said it was ironic that the MLP had last year agreed with the PN on amendments to the electoral law under the terms of which he would have been eligible to vote.

The MLP had subsequently voted against the amendments to the law saying the government had deviated from the agreement.

"It is amazing they should agree on the principle that certain categories of people should be able to vote but they should then go against their beliefs and try to deny me my voting rights," Prof. Cassola said.