European Parliament Elections Act (Amendment) Order, 2019

L.N. 8 of 2019

EUROPEAN UNION ACT

(CAP. 460)

European Parliament Elections Act (Amendment) Order, 2019

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred upon him by article 4(2)

of the European Union Act, the Prime Minister has made the following

order:-

(1) The title of this order is the European Parliament Title, scope and

Elections Act (Amendment) Order, 2019 and this Order shall be read commencement.

and construed as one with the European Parliament Elections Act, Cap. 467.

hereinafter referred to as "the Act".

(2) The scope of this order is to transpose into the Act, certain

provisions of Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2018/994 of 13 July

2018 amending the Act concerning the election of the members of the

European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, annexed to Council

Decision 76/787/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of 20 September 1976.

(3) The provisions of this order shall enter into force on the

first day following that when the last notification by the Member

States of the completion of their respective approval procedures is

received by the General Secretariat of the Council

Provided that the Act as in force prior to the coming into

force of this order shall continue to apply in respect of any pending

matters.

Article 7 of the Act shall be amended as follows

Amends article

7 of the Act.

(a) the current provisions thereof shall be renumbered as

sub-article (1);

(b) sub-article (1) thereof, as renumbered, there shall be

substituted the following

"(1) The election of Members of the European

Parliament as representatives of the citizens of the Union

shall be conducted according to the principle of

proportional representation by means of the single

transferable vote, each voter having one such vote."; and

(c) immediately after sub-article (1) thereof, as

renumbered, there shall be added the following new sub-article

(2)

"(2) The elections shall be by direct universal

suffrage and shall be free and secret.".

For sub-article (3) of article 17 of the Act there shall be

substituted by the following

"(3) For the purpose of ensuring compliance with sub-

article (1) the Electoral Commission shall, no later than six

weeks before the first day of the electoral period, inform the

competent authority in the Home Member State of any person

listed in the European Union Electoral Register who has opted to

cast his vote in Malta

Provided that the Electoral Commission shall act in

accordance with the applicable Union law concerning the

protection of personal data.".

In article 20 of the Act, immediately after sub-article (5),

there shall be added the following new sub-article

"(6) The deadline for submission of candidacies for

election shall be at least three weeks before the date fixed for

holding the elections to the European Parliament.".

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