Stay put and vote where you are living
One of my sons is a student in Amsterdam. He has been there for just six weeks, and has a temporary identity card, which he registered for through his university. Today, a letter addressed to him personally arrived at his flat, from the Dutch electoral office, telling him that he is being listed on the electoral register for The Netherlands, and that he can vote for Dutch candidates in the European Parliament elections. The letter was in 22 European languages, including Maltese (on the last page).
Meanwhile, back home in Malta, the usual political battles are about to begin over the provision of almost-free flights with Air Malta to Maltese who are living elsewhere, so that they can pop back to Malta and vote for Maltese candidates. Why? They are able to vote for the candidates of the EU member states in which they are living, and so they should do that. That’s one of the many facets of the pan-European experience. Refusing to vote for the candidates in the country in which you live, when you are allowed to, and catching a plane back home instead to vote for the candidates here, is a bit….well, petty-minded. It defeats the spirit of the thing.
The political parties are going to be encouraging this kind of behaviour, because they want to drum up as many votes and as great a sense of urgency as humanly possible. I think that’s wrong. What the political parties should be doing is encouraging those Maltese who live in other member states to stay put and vote there, choosing a candidate pertaining to the EPP or the socialist group, as the preference may be. But just as happened in 2004, this is going to be another fight to the death to see who gets the most seats – as though it makes a blind bit of difference to anything at all.
This is not at all like a general election, in which you must make every effort necessary to have a hand in choosing the prime minister, if you are eligible to do so. That’s a decision which has a very real impact on Malta’s destiny, and of the people who live here.
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I think that the EP elections have another good function beside that of choosing five people to live the good life for the rest of their lives. This is the ability to send a message to government about its popularity or otherwise in a harmless way. What I mean is that, considering the current options and leadership, I have no option but to vote PN in a general election, but would not mind voting AD or PL as a “protest vote” in an EP election.
[Daphne – Using ‘harmless’ elections to send a message is a primitive way of doing things and a pointless exercise, when you consider that the Nationalist Party has a very sophisticated polling system and is generally very au fait with public opinion. However, I agree with you that it serves as a safety valve for this pressure-cooker electorate – better to let off steam in local council elections and EP elections than in a general election, though there are some general elections at which people cannot help cutting off their nose to spite their face, last year being a prime example.]
Is it possible to do both? Vote in the country you live in and in Malta?
[Daphne – No, of course not.]
But we already have experienced this, Daphne. All foreign residents have a right to vote for the local councils and EP elections.
[Daphne – Yes. I’m highlighting it now because I have been hearing rather too much fuss about cheap Air Malta flights already. It is not in the political parties’ interest to inform people that Maltese citizens living in other EU member states can vote for EP candidates there. They prefer to encourage them to fly back to Malta to vote here. Voting with a carbon footprint…]
Living in Belgium, as we do, we received these papers to vote here too. Makes perfect sense as you say.
However, when speaking to one of the AD candidates, my partner was told in no uncertain terms that we cannot vote in Belgium and can only vote in Malta.
[Daphne – You see what I mean? Shocking misinformation. They would rather you flew back to Malta to vote for them. Don’t do it. Tell them you’re thinking of your carbon footprint. The Belgian electoral office wouldn’t have sent you voting papers if you weren’t entitled to vote.]
Although you might be right in what you said, you should not give the impression that all European nationals living in a foreign country actually vote for the candidates of the country in which they are living. Their governments actually allow them to vote in their embassy as is the case with most of my colleagues in Luxembourg. Unfortunately we are not provided with that opportunity although there is apparently a possibility that this will happen in the coming years.
[Daphne – I am right, not ‘might be right’. Non-Maltese EU citizens can vote for Maltese candidates if they are registered as living here, too. Yes, some people have a choice if they are not living in their ‘passport’ state: whether to vote for the EP candidates of the state in which they are living, or whether to vote for the candidates of their ‘passport’ state at the embassy. As you pointed out, we don’t have that choice. So it makes sense to stay put and vote for the EP candidates of the state in which we are living, rather than flying back to Malta to vote here. The whole point is to vote in the EP elections, not to vote for Glenn Bedingfield or Vince Farrugia in Malta.]
I agree, but in the case of people living in Brussels and Luxembourg (i.e. those working with the EU institutions) this is not possible because under EU law there are the so-called ‘Brussels’ and ‘Luxembourg’ exceptions – because of the high concentration of non-nationals living in these two cities, their right to vote in EP elections can be deferred by up to five years.
There are other relevant political groupings besides EPP and PES.
If you have been residing in Luxembourg for at least two years, then you are allowed to vote for the Luxembourgish EP candidates, as long you are also a European Union citizen. It’s a sorry state of affairs, that of flying over to vote. It is as if it’s our only life line. We are rightly perceived as Neanderthals by Europeans.
[Daphne – I know. In the last general election, one of my sons was in a remote part of Denmark, and had to make a very complicated and expensive 24-hour journey to get home on voting-day. The non-Maltese students he was with thought he was mad to bother and just couldn’t understand it, until he showed them YouTube videos of the members of our alternative government, and explained how easily they could be elected.]
@ Chris C: you’re right – for this year’s elections, the requirement in Luxembourg has been brought down to two years. It was five years last time round. Another two reasons why people who live abroad might want to vote in Malta however is that this usually means a very cheap/free flight to Malta, so one can combine it with a holiday as I usually do, and also, since Malta is over-represented in the European Parliament when compared to other member states, your vote in Malta has more of an impact, although admittedly this would only serve as an incentive for people who seriously need to get a life.
This all started with Jason tal-fjuri and ‘his’ athletes. People who really want to vote in Malta leave on 6 June 2009 for free. Eligible voters who live abroad wouldn’t mind coming for a day or two on a cheap flight with Air Malta. The athletes would be ‘forced’ to vote earlier here in Malta. Am I right?
[Daphne – Forced?]
I think we should vote for those candidates we think will perform best, irrespective which party they come from.
[Daphne – I don’t agree. MEPs vote with their political grouping, so you must also keep an eye to the policies and outlook of that grouping.]
The Greek goverment placed an advert in The Sunday Times this week, advising for Greek citizens who live in Malta and who wish to vote in the EP elections to register at the Greek embassy here. Why can’t Maltese living away from Malta vote at the Maltese embassy?
[Daphne – Because our electoral law doesn’t allow it, and changing the law depends on agreement between the political parties. Perhaps Muscat could start a campaign to show how ‘motern’ he is.]
I used the word ‘forced’ because the political parties keep records on who votes and who doesn’t vote.
[Daphne – So?]
So that is why we have a high turnout of voters, and the athletes ‘have to’ go and vote. They’re being watched by our big brothers. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Jason near the polling booth at the Naxxar Trade Fair Grounds. If they don’t vote at Naxxar they will not be able to vote, they will be in Cyprus on 6th June. Only in Malta and in many dictatorial countries is there this high level of democracy, and high turnout of voters.
[Daphne – Do you realise what you just said: “Only in Malta and in many dictatorial countries is there this high level of democracy and high turnout of voters.” In dictatorships, there is NO democracy, which is why they are considered dictatorships. And in Malta, there is a high turn-out at general elections not because people feel they are being watched, but because everyone feels there is so much at stake, and because this is a small country where the choice of government has a direct and tangible impact on your life. You have such a tal-Muzew mentality, honestly: the very idea of rushing down to the polling-booth just so The Authorities will know you’ve voted. What’s that all about?]
I was being sarcastic. So that is why we carry old fragile people from hospitals to vote, because there is so much at stake. I hope you meant for the politicians. [Daphne – No, I meant for people, including those fragile old people, most of whom have families.]
People ARE being watched in Malta; political parties take names of those who did not go to vote. [Daphne – Yes, and so what? What are they going to do: come with machetes to your door? Can’t you see how illogical your reasoning is: you are saying that a political party would rather you voted for The Other Side than not vote at all.] Don’t you know why they do that? If you want I will tell you how the system works. [Daphne – I know exactly how the system works. I also know that the average Maltese is a two-faced coward.]
When you stated that one of your sons would not be voting in Malta, Party A said “Hurrah!” and party B started worrying. I wouldn’t be surprised if party B would be phoning you to convince him to come and vote for their party. [Daphne – John, read my lips: so bloody what? Let them phone. Let them worry. Let them celebrate. It makes no difference to my life or to my son’s life or to the destiny of this country whether the Nationalists have two EP seats, one, three, four or five. This is not a general election.]
These things never bothered me but I know that it bothers many voters. U hallik minn tal-Muzew! I never said that I go to vote because I’m afraid of some big brother. [Daphne – No, because you’re a committed PN voter. But you reflect that way of thinking.]
Committed? Coerced by Labour to vote PN maybe. Maybe I am committed to choose the best from two evils, like many of us here. [Daphne – That’s where you’re wrong. The more intelligent among us vote PN out of conviction, because we are able to gauge ability, credibility and results. I wouldn’t describe the PN as the lesser of two evils. It is not an evil in any way, but has been a positive force for the good in Malta. The Labour Party, on the other hand, is beyond hopeless.]
I know how common people think; I don’t live in an ivory tower (not referring to you). [Daphne – The fact that one might be a common person – I’m not referring to you – does not mean that one knows how the ‘common people’ think. There is no such thing as the ‘common people’. Attitudes and beliefs have to be assessed at a microscopic level to gain a true picture of popular opinion. I tend to be pretty good at this. I find it amusing that some people say, on the one hand, that I live in an ivory tower, but then on the other hand, hang onto every word I say as the gospel of popular perception.]
I believe that this system of taking names of non-voters by political parties exists only in Malta apart from dictatorial countries. [Daphne – In dictatorships, people don’t vote.] People have a right not to vote, and that is nobody’s business. [Daphne – You’re wrong there. There are some countries in which it is against the law not to vote, and they are not your dictatorships-with-elections but some of the most highly evolved democracies of all. The right you have is the right to vote, not the right not to vote. By saying that ‘not voting’ is a ‘right’, you are turning the hard-won right to vote on its head. I would never dream of not voting in a general election. I would consider it a grave dereliction of duty, and not the exercise of a right. Only extremely silly people with the brain of a flibbertygibbet think that not voting is a right rather than a failure to do one’s duty.]
I cannot understand why we are living in 2009 and we’re still not using the internet and all digital tools available for voting. As long as you have an internet connection you can vote from any place on earth!
In Vietnam they vote, that does not make that country democratic. [Daphne – I thought you would spend some time hunting the internet for the exception that proves the rule.]
Political parties taking names of non-voters is a breach of one’s privacy. [Daphne – I tend to agree, but then again, neither party has an interest in ceasing the practice, and honestly, I don’t care whether my name is taken or not because I have nothing to hide in that respect. The real invasion of privacy is when they ring up at home to see why you haven’t voted.] We are supposed to be a free country. You are free when you are free to choose even to shirk your duty, then you suffer the consequences, not from a political party. Even extremely silly people have rights. [Daphne – What confused thinking, John, honestly.]
So you are convinced that we are living in Utopia? [Daphne – No, John, I am not, and no reasonably intelligent person expects to live in Utopia. However, I am more than capable of assessing the pros and cons and working out what can be realistically achieved, and assessing what has been achieved.] I can see a lot of faults with this government and would vote for it if an election comes because Labour has ten times as many faults and it does not inspire me. The way this government is handling the manufacturing industry is nearly perfect, but I cannot agree with the way the water and electricity consumers are being treated. I don’t like to be fined for a traffic offence which I never committed. [Daphne – Water and electricity bills? Traffic fines? If those are your only complaints, you do live in Utopia. What lots of people here really need is exposure to the long, sharp shock of real life.]
I was hoping (against hope) that George Abela would change Labour. [Daphne – So was I, but in retrospect, how so? The party remains chock-a-block with racanc.]
@Joseph Attard Baldacchino
Much as I would like to agree you, I’m afraid I can’t, notwithstanding (or maybe because of) my involvement in the IT industry. Electronic voting is so far fraught with problems, so electronic voting across the internet is going to be an order of magnitude more problematic. When some other country has got it sorted out, having been the guinea-pig, then fine – but in the meantime, I’ll pass.
Here are some of the documented problems. There are actually rumours and claims of many more problems than those on this list, of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting#Documented_problems
I visited Vietnam maybe five years ago – Ho Ci Mihn city (Saigon). There they vote but would not know the true results . Egypt I believe is another example where people vote but do not have a choice. Lately we saw Mugabe being ‘elected’. And I am not sitting all day long in front of the computer. Sajjartilhom naqa’ mqarrun il-forn, mill-ewwel ‘l hawn. [Daphne – Tajjeb. Jien sajjart il-porku.] Ir-racanc has increased in the Labour Party. But we have to be careful not to have some Lorry Sant in the PN. [Daphne – that’s why it was so important not to allow a situation in which politicians, in collusion with special-interest groups, can sabotage the planning process, as we saw happen just some weeks ago.]
@Joseph Attard Baldacchino: on electronic voting, I can assure you that in Malta both parties would be able to enter, use and abuse system.
Bil-haqq, “Il-lum il-Gimgha ma’ jiswiex laham!”. Bon appetit.
I could kick myself. I’m coming to Malta on June 10th, and paying almost €300 with our dear friends KM, when I could have flown over on June 6th (or 5th) for a pittance, it seems. Would you believe that once I knew I could vote in the EP elections here in Vienna, it didn’t occur to me that there’d be cheapo flights to Malta available to those who want to vote in Malta?
Congratulations on the makeover of the site, by the way. Pretty good.
[Daphne – Thank you. And it took one person just a few hours around lectures. Makes you wonder why Maltastar took months to come up with that. Is-soltu Lejber.]
My daughter was born in Malta and no doubt her family will jump at the chance of a free flight to Malta. Our local pub is full of Maltese and my partner has a Maltese son-in-law with extended family. Just how many planes are available for voters and who says who gets the available seats? Doesn’t seem fair when obviously not everyone can benefit. My friend has already had to give up her home in Malta because Air Malta stopped flying from the airport in Scotland.
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