The right to vote

The Times editorial (May 13) on the discussions being held by the PN and the MLP on changing the electoral law very rightly highlighted the fact that the two traditional parties seem to assume that they can monopolise discussions on this issue, believing that they are speaking for everyone when they discuss this issue in secret between them.

The paternalistic attitude of the PN and MLP borders on the dangerous when it now appears that the two parties are preparing to grant unto themselves increased powers to control the most basic of rights Maltese and Gozitans have - the right to vote.

It seems that the proposed changes will include an amendment which will mean that if a citizen`s right to vote is challenged by a political party, the citizen will have to prove that he or she is eligible to vote in an election, rather than the political party having to prove that the citizen is ineligible.

The implication is ominous, basically turning upside down the most basic of legal principles by assuming that citizens are ineligible until they prove themselves eligible. Such an amendment makes it much easier for the traditional parties to strike people off the electoral register, a habit so common that the PN and MLP now employ full-timers to go through all the legal work necessary to do so.

It is indeed ironic that while other democracies have widened the democratic rights of their citizens by introducing postal voting for example, the PN and MLP are contemplating methods making it easier to deprive citizens of their right to vote.

Alternattiva Demokratika has consistently asked for greater transparency and openness in these discussions. The public has a right to know in what manner the PN and MLP are fiddling with the right to vote.