[Strengthandhonour]

ITALY: NEW 'IMMIGRANT PARTY' LAUNCHED



Rome, 25 April (AKI) - A new political party representing the interests of immigrants has been launched in Italy, coinciding with proposed changes to the law which would allow immigrants the right to vote in Italian local body elections. "The party is a result of the collaboration between Italians and the representatives of the main immigrant communities present here in Rome," Ukrainian Maria Pratsiuk, spokesperson of "Nuovi Italiani"(New Italians) told Adnkronos International (AKI). "If parliament approves the bill presented in cabinet on Tuesday...there will be a million and a half new electors in Italy," added Pratsiuk.

"The creation of this new party coincides with the decree-law changing the current immigration norms. The text applies the Strasbourg Convention giving active and passive voting rights in local administrations to foreigners who have lived legally in Italy for more than five years," she said.

"A million and a half new electors - 200,000 in the capital alone - can now count, with their vote, on the political choices of this country. The party Nuovi Italiani seeks to be a point of cohesion for all new Italian electors, aware that only through unity can important goals be reached, like equal opportunity, the right to regular work and decent pay and integration," Pratsiuk concluded.

Italy currently has approximately three million legal immigrants,according to national statistics institute Istat. Estimates on illegal immigration vary hugely. Catholic charity Caritas, which issues an annual report on the phenomenon on the government's behalf, has put their number at around one million.



source: ITALY: NEW \'IMMIGRANT PARTY\' LAUNCHED