PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami called out certain issues in the electoral register today, stating that there are people registered twice in the Electoral register, using different identity cards. This he said, "is a threat to democracy as they can vote twice".

Parliament was debating the motion tabled by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, seeking to approve the Electoral Commission’s revised electoral boundaries which were presented in November last year.

“Don’t you dare think we will let you steal the election. We have a government that created a system where people can vote twice, but the PN will stand in the way of this abuse.”

“This is what corruption means, doing everything to remain in power. This country had passed through this in the past, where the same party abused the system to remain in power. Today I say, yes, in the electoral register there are people with different identity cards who can vote twice. The Minister must answer to this, not investigate, but answer for this.”

“These are facts of corrupt practices.”

He turned to persons who bought citizenship, which the PN claims are also on the electoral register when in fact they should not have a vote.

“Where has this country ended up. This country paid a high price when there was abuse of the electoral system in the 80s. It would be wrong for this government to try and abuse the system, try and get votes from people who should never have been given a vote.”

“I have long said that this corrupt government managed to corrupt the way someone is given the right to vote. I had the occasion to explain how the corrupt persons in power created a situation where citizenship is sold. They created an organised system for person who should never have been given a vote, to have a vote. I have a list of people, Russians, Moldovans etc. who never set foot here. In their citizenship document, they are asked whether they qualified for a vote, and left it blank, yet they are included in the register. This is under your watch Minister Owen Bonnici.”

“ These people barely know where Malta is, and just bought citizenship to have an EU passport. But someone came up with the idea to give these people a vote. Someone applied in 2015, and they ask him whether he spend 18 months in Malta, how many times he came to Malta, and he didn’t mark anything, yet they gave him a vote.”

Possible legal problems for the PL and Party financing

Turning to the Party Financing law, Dr Fenech Adami said; “We have spent days listening to Minister Owen Bonnici speaking about the Party Financing Law.This law came into play on 1 January 2016. One year, four months after the law came into play, we have a non-existent Labour Party according to law. Government must explain how the PL does not exist, is not registered.”

“For a party to exist it must be registered. I look at Minister Bonnici laughing, instead of explaining to the party members how their party does not exist. It does not qualify as a political party.”

“Looking at what the PL has done over the past year, they had time to call an Annual General Meeting, had the time to amend the statute. The PL, found the time to change the statute for Minister Konrad Mizzi to become a PL Deputy Leader. The Prime Minister wanted Minister Mizzi to be Deputy Leader so much that last year he called an AGM within one week, changing the statute to accommodate him. Then we know what happened, the Panama Papers, and he later resigned.”

“Why didn’t Minister Cardona find the time to call an AGM in the past year and four months. This was not a mistake and he needs to answer this to their party members.”

“The PN registered, and satisfied the obligation to present the list of all donations it received, yet the PL who calls a press conference to criticise the PN each day, does not declare the thousands it receives at it is not registered. They refuse to register, god forbid, before the election, they have to publish the list of donors.”

“They are playing with timing not to be constrained to present their list of donors before the election."

“The PL now has a legal problem given that it is not yet registered. The law piloted by Minister Owen Bonnici states that political parties that existed when this law came into play, have six months to register.  The PN registered, AD registered, other parties registered in the terms according to the law, but the PL Deputy Leader did not have the time to amend the statute, to register the PL. You must explain to your PL members, how you, who find time for everything, did not have the time to amend the PL statute, and today you have a legal problem. You will have to pass through an absurd situation, amending the law you passed, as you did not register as a party. Instead of focusing on the interest of PL members, you chose to hide the thousands of donations.”

He turned to PL MP Clifton Grima, and said that he contested a by-election after former Minister Leo Brincat became an auditor. “The by-election occurred for a PL candidate to be elected. When that happened, the PL did not exist, as the six months passed. I ask the electoral commission to explain the situation of someone like MP Clifton Grima, who contested a by-election for a party that does not yet exist," Dr Fenech Adami said.

This issue came to the fore after an INDEPTH interview with PL Deputy Leader Chris Cardona.

Justice Minister responds

Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon said that the party exists with a 36,000 vote majority, and said that Clifton Grima's election was legitimate. He said that the register was never perfect, and he had to present certificates of death in the past to strike people off the register who had passed away. "Let's not paint a picture that it was ever perfect." If there are people registered twice, lets remove them, he said, "but lets not make a mountain out of this."

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said that the same people in the Electoral Commission who check the register are the same ones who were there in the last administration. He explained that there is a three-tier verification and checking system. “The biggest guarantee is that anyone can check the register, and file a case to fix any mistakes.”

“If there are such mistakes, of people being listed twice, Write to the Electoral Commission, and you have the right to take action. If there are mistakes they can be corrected in court.”

He said government is not meddling or trying to abuse. “I assure you we do not think of such things.”

Turning to MP Clifton Grima, Dr Bonnici said that he was elected through the Leo Brincat by-election, based on an election that occurred prior to the introduction of the party financing legislation. He was elected on the strength of votes of those elections.

Turning to the Electoral Commission and Identity Malta, he said that an attack was launched, and said that Dr Fenech Adami believes he is living in another time. “Identity Malta does all it can to move according to the law. Employers say, with regards to residency permits, that Identity Malta needs to relax. When it comes to Visa and residencies, they are doing a good job, and work according to law.”

As for the IIP, he said that if the PN have doubts, they can ask persons in the highest posts of the PN who are IIP agents making funds through this programme, and see what they tell them.

Turning to IIP citizens receiving voting rights, “if you think they are in a queue to be on the register, you are wrong. These are people, multi-millionaires who travel all the time, and say they don’t want to be in the register.”

As for the Party Financing regulations, he said that as soon as the PL statute is amended, the PL will publish the list of donors.