Maltese man living in Nairobi challenges lack of overseas voting rights
Author Karl Schembri files judicial protest, says his right to vote is being breached
Author and humanitarian worker Karl Schembri has filed a judicial protest against the Maltese government over the lack of overseas voting facilities.
Schembri, who works in Nairobi, argued that despite being a fully registered Maltese voter, he has been unable to vote in multiple general elections because Malta provides no mechanism for voters abroad to cast their ballot unless they can board a KM flight from one of the airline's commercial destinations.
“As a Maltese citizen working as an aid worker across East and Southern Africa, I remain fully subject to the democratic decisions taken in Malta, yet the current system has repeatedly denied me any practical and effective means of participating in those decisions through the vote,” Schembri told Times of Malta.
The former journalist argued that Maltese election laws fail to provide a just and adequate mechanism for overseas voters, and the government’s subsidised flight arrangement is arbitrary and discriminatory, in breach of his rights.
He said the KM Malta flight arrangements only cater for people who happen to live near one of the airline's commercial routes, and denies it to everyone else.
“It creates, in effect, a higher caste of citizenship, and in a democracy, no such caste should exist.
“The state already recognises that overseas citizens require assistance to exercise their vote. The issue is that this assistance is distributed arbitrarily, benefiting only those located near the commercial network of a single airline,” Schembri said.
The judicial letter argues that over 100 countries, including 41 in Europe, offer their citizens overseas voting, making Malta’s position not only inadequate but an outlier.
Schembri said the letter has been filed three weeks before the May 30 election deliberately, so as to put his position on formal legal record before the vote, and to force a long overdue national conversation.
Last week, KM Malta announced extra flights and increased capacity following what it described as 'exceptionally strong demand' by voters to travel to Malta for the general election.
It said that in the first two days of bookings for election travel, it booked over 1,000 return passengers. Approximately 90% originated from Brussels and London.
The Nationalist Party has urged the Electoral Commission to make arrangements for seats for voters to also be made available on other airlines.