Republican News · Thursday 9 January 2003

200,000 voters missing, claims McLaughlin

Sinn Féin Foyle Assembly member, Mitchel McLaughlin, says that according to Census figures, up to 200,000 people eligible to vote are missing from the Electoral Register.

McLaughlin is calling for an urgent investigation into the apparent discrepancy between the declared population of voting age in the recent Census Report and the number of electors registered to vote.

"This is a very worrying disclosure and is something that cannot be ignored. This critical issue should be of concern to all parties, as these missing voters must cover every political opinion," he said.

"I intend approaching the Ombudsman's Office and the Equality Commission to request an investigation into how this discrepancy occurred and what steps can be taken to rectify the situation.

"The figure of 200,000 votes cannot simply be explained away as people failing to register nor is it entirely due to the new registration requirements. What we have is 200,000 people that have been disenfranchised and this will obviously have a major effect on the electoral process. These figures require an urgent investigation to ascertain exactly how this situation came about."

"Another area of concern is the fact that there appears to be a higher percentage figure for registration in constituencies and wards that could be described as unionist than in similar nationalist areas. But I do not want to labour this point, as it requires detailed investigation."