Petition demands votes for prisoners in EU Elections in June

Petition demands votes for prisoners in EU Elections in June

John Hirst writes…for Inside Time (March 2009 issue)

The Association of Prisoners (AoP), have filed
a petition with the European Parliament.

The AoP have petitioned the EU to be
allowed to vote in the UK, at the Elections
to the European Parliament, to be held on
4 June 2009. They wish to vote for
Members of the European Parliament
(MEPs), under Article 194 of the EC Treaty
and the AoP have submitted a petition to
the European Parliament to be allowed to
exercise their rights as EU citizens.

The surprise legal move has caught the UK
government off guard, because of its
mistaken legal view that: "At present,
prisoners serving a custodial sentence do
not have the right to vote. This ban was
enshrined in section 3 of the
Representation of the People Act 1983 as
amended by the Representation of the
People Act 1985: A convicted person during
the time that he is detained in a penal
institution in pursuance of his sentence [or
unlawfully at large when he would otherwise
be so detained] is legally incapable of
voting at any parliamentary or local government
election".

The AoP, in its petition, contends that the "any
parliamentary election” only applies to any UK
parliamentary election, because under EU
law the UK cannot bind the EU Parliament,
but the EU Parliament can bind the UK. For
example, a Swedish prisoner in a UK prison
is entitled to vote in the EU parliamentary
election. It follows that because UK prisoners
are also EU citizens, they too can exercise
their right to vote in the forthcoming election.
The prisoners are relying upon the
principle of universal suffrage. To deny
them this right would mean that they are
being victimised, and would lead to claims
for compensation costing the government
many millions of pounds at a time when
there is an economic downturn.

Following the landmark judgment in Hirst
v UK(No2), Cyprus, Iraq, and the Republic
of Ireland have granted prisoners the vote,
and now Hong Kong is to follow suit.

The petition has been filed with the
Committee on Petitions, the specific point
raised about the EU parliamentary election
did not emerge during the above case,
which is itself to be the subject of the
Committee of Ministers meeting on 17-19
March 2009, when the execution of the
judgment is expected. It would appear that
the government is facing a double whammy,
and have seriously underestimated the legal
ability of the jailhouselawyers and AoP
members politicisation over recent years.

n.b. This article is available in the paper edition but has not yet been linked to on the InsideTime online edition. It can be read by downloading the pdf version.