The Nationalist Party has not received any official communication from the Electoral Commission relating to claims by the PN that foreigners who bought Maltese citizenship were given the right to vote in breach of the Constitution, PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami said today.

The IIP scheme introduced by the Government at the beginning of this legislature has seemingly allowed a large number of persons who bought Maltese citizenship to be given voting rights without Constitutionally having the right to do so, the PN has said.

Addressing the media this morning, Dr Fenech Adami explained that the Electoral Commission held an internal meeting, however there has been no official statement as to what steps it has taken to rectify what has been done and what it will do in order to stop this abusive procedure.

Dr Fenech Adami said that despite a week passing since it was revealed that the right to vote was granted to individuals who bought citizenship, in breach of the constitution since they do not fulfil the requirements to vote, the Prime Minister "is still running away from answering questions related to this scandal".

"The Prime Minister's silence means that we have a Prime Minister who is not ready to ensure that the Constitution and Maltese laws are respected".

"Now that it is clear that the PL government is rife with corruption and is losing votes, government is ready to give the right to vote to those not entitled to it in order to try and equal out the votes it lost".

Mr Matther Mangion, Director of the PN Electoral Office, said that in the coming days court procedures are expected to commence, in rder to remove these people from the electoral register. He also said that research by ELCOM shows that there could be even more people who could be found in the middle of this scandal.

He said that Identity Malta has a huge problem, being involved in corruption scandals. "The Electoral Office must, immediately, say what steps it took since this scandal was revealed and say what investigations have taken place in order to reveal how these people were given voting rights against the law.

Dr Fenech Adami also mentioned a report in The Malta Independent, which is as yet not denied, which stated that "Desk officers at the Electoral Commission sent e-mails to a number of IIP citizenship holders to inform them that they did not meet the necessary criteria, as laid out by Malta's Constitution, to be placed on the Electoral Register. Despite this, these same individuals were still given a right to vote in Malta".