Opinion split on how to manage voting rights

Joan Collins THE Majorcan Nationalist Party (PSM) and the Majorcan Unionist Party (UM) consider that allowing immigrants from outside the European Union to vote in the local council elections next year should be approved but with certain guarantees. The Spanish Government is proposing this measure, and although the parties think it should be approved, they are concerned about possible vote rigging and want guarantees that this will be prevented, according to the spokesperson for the PSM in the local Parliament, Pere Sampol. He added that in some European Union countries, such as Germany, knowledge of the language of that country is required to gain certain rights. “Requiring some years of residence in the country and in the town where they will vote would be a way of preventing vote rigging”, he said. Damia Nicolau, secretary general of the UM, thinks that they should demand guarantees rather than conditions. “Voting is a right, but those who have rights also have obligations”, he said. He added that it is important to have certain knowledge to vote with “guarantees”. In contrast the PSM and the UM, the Partido Popular (PP), the Spanish Socialists (PSOE), and the United Left-Greens (EU-EV) alliance consider that the right to vote should be guaranteed without any conditions. The secretary general of the PP, Jose Maria Rodriguez, said that there is no reason to demand conditions if the person voting has their papers in order. He even added that the vote should extend to other elections and not just to the local council elections. Aina Rado of the Balearic Socialists (PSIB) said, for example, that in Germany people are not required to know the language in order to vote. In the opinion of Grosske (EU-EV), anyone living in the town should have the right to give their opinion on who will govern them.