Australia Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce loses seat over citizenship

Australia Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce loses seat over citizenship
# 27 October 2017 06:03 (UTC +04:00)

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has been removed from parliament for being a New Zealander, APA reports quoting CNN.

Joyce was one of several lawmakers ruled ineligible Friday by the High Court in Canberra, but the only one from the lower house.

His removal sparks a by-election and puts Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's one-seat parliamentary majority at risk.
The Australian constitution bars citizens of foreign countries from serving in parliament.
"It's a pretty simple story, we're off to a by-election (and) I put myself forward to the people of New England as a candidate," Joyce told reporters in his constituency, a rural part of eastern Australia, north of Sydney.
"I had no reason to believe I was a citizen of any other country but Australia."
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THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED