Brussels, 30/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - In a referendum on Sunday 29 May 2011, more than 53% of Maltese voters said Yes to the right to divorce. Malta is the only country of the EU (apart from Vatican City) where divorce is outlawed. Some 53.2% of the 304,000 Maltese voters (of a population of 408,000 inhabitants) agreed in a referendum on Saturday to a proposal to allow divorce after four years of legal separation, explains AFP. The Maltese prime minister, Lawrence Gonzalez, had campaigned against introducing the right to divorce, commenting when the results were out that it was not the outcome that he had desired, but the voice of the people had to be respected, adding that parliament would now prepare draft legislation At present, reports AFP, Maltese married couples are allowed to legally separate but it is very difficult for them to remarry because the marriage has to be annulled, a long and complicated process. Exceptions are in place, but only for Maltese nationals who got a divorce overseas and who had married somebody not carrying a Maltese passport. (S.P./transl.fl)