Maltese Voters In UK Not Coming Down To Vote Over Travel Complications
Maltese voters currently living in the UK are effectively being discouraged to come down to Malta to vote in the upcoming general election because of major complications in travelling to the country.
Part of the issue appears to come from the Electoral Commission, which is making people jump through hurdles to come back home and cast their vote.
Lovin Malta spoke to two people who have had no choice but to resort to not voting, due to the complications and fees that they have been facing over the last few weeks.
“The voting situation has been a bit grim, to be honest. I moved to London a bit over a year ago, so obviously voting in Malta is a bit tricky from the get-go. I have really tried my utmost to find a way to vote, however, which has made my failure even more disappointing. I don’t like the idea of not voting, but at this point, there’s not much I can do,” one man told Lovin Malta.
From issues with finding flights to attempting to come to Malta a little earlier to be able to use an early voting system, nothing seemed to work, unless they were okay with paying for incredibly expensive flights.
Upon deciding the make use of the early voting window, they had to go down to the High Commission in London to sign an affidavit claiming that they would not be able to vote on the 26th, which cost them around €90.
“To clarify, this was a single sheet of paper we needed to fill in with a ballpoint and sign, I’m not sure why it was imperative it be done in person. They also photocopied our ID card.”
“As can be imagined, I’m quite out of enthusiasm for the whole affair, even though I am genuinely frustrated that I won’t be able to vote. The ridiculous hassle and environmental cost it would have involved are really preposterous in 2022 however,” he said.
“To top it all off, I feel like I’ve been swindled out of €90 for having the cheek to try and do my duty, which is quite the icing on the cake,” he lamented.
“I’ve been in the UK for something like 15 months on paper. I can vote here. I can vote by mail,” he said, referring to the UK Postal Vote option.
“It’s not hard. It doesn’t require sworn oaths, a wad of cash, and hours of planes and airports,” he said.
“I am a Maltese citizen currently living in London. Every time an election has been called I’ve always needed to fork out funds to travel to Malta and back as well as provide enough notice to my employers about short notice leave I will need to take in order to vote,” another woman told Lovin Malta.
“First and foremost, I do not see how, in this day and age, a citizen of a European country must pay to carry out their civic duty. This year I’ve only heard about a ‘discounted’ price on AirMalta flight tickets from Heathrow,” she said.
“The system in the UK allows for its citizens living abroad or unable to head to the polling stations for any reason to vote by proxy (that is, having someone vote in their stead) or by mail.”
“The postal vote is a system widely used across Europe and can be implemented in Malta. In all honesty, I can’t understand why a foreign country (the UK) caters for me voting overseas (Maltese citizens are allowed to vote in UK general elections if they hold a residency here) whereas my own country of origin has not even entertained the idea,” she lamented.
“Think of all the Maltese citizens who find themselves in America, Australia, the UK and all over Europe at this time. These numbers must surely be in the thousands,” she said.
“We can sell passports to strangers but not allow actual citizens who were born and raised in the country to vote? Where is the logic?”
“Out of the rest of the Maltese people I know that live here, only one other person has decided to travel to Malta to vote. Everyone else is not willing to go through that hassle.”
The complications brought on by Malta’s voting system has led to this group of people ultimately giving up and deciding that coming down to vote is just not worth this myriad of hassle and expenses.
If you have any similar experiences, don’t hesitate to get in contact with Sasha at [email protected]
Have you encountered similar issues with the Electoral C0mmission?
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