The watershed moment when Malta voted to introduce divorce

Malta had been one of only two countries worldwide not to have divorce legislation but that all changed seven years ago to the day.

In a hard-fought referendum, 53.2% voted in favour of legislation that would introduce no-fault divorce after four years of legal or de facto separation.

It was former Nationalist Party MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who a year earlier kick-started the debate by presenting a private members’ Bill in Parliament for the introduction of divorce.

The move caught the Nationalist Party by surprise and then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi thought of resolving the matter by calling a consultative referendum.

The ‘Yes’ campaign was led by Pullicino Orlando and Labour MP Evarist Bartolo, who roped in the charismatic and Deborah Schembri, until then an unknown lawyer.

The ‘No’ campaign was made up of an array of uncoordinated, mostly-Catholic groupings. The Church officially backed the ‘No’ campaign.

On 28 May, 71.6% of the electorate turned out to vote. With a majority of 14,576, the ‘Yes’ camp emerged victorious.

The final result, confirmed the day after, saw ‘Yes’ obtain 53.2% against the 46.8% for the ‘No’ camp.

Parliament gave its final stamp of approval to divorce legislation a month later, on 25 July, when 52 MPs voted in favour, 11 against and five abstained at the Third Reading stage.

Gonzi voted against the law, while all Labour MPs apart from Adrian Vassallo – who was absent from the House – voted in favour.

The law came into force on 1 October that year.

According to figures tabled in Parliament last March by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, between October 2011 and March 2018 the courts in Malta and Gozo approved 2,328 divorces.

The largest number of divorces was registered in 2012 when the courts approved 450 divorces. The numbers since have dropped to 325 last year.

It is widely accepted that the introduction of divorce seven years ago was a watershed moment for Maltese society that enabled the Labour Party to introduce gay rights legislation almost unopposed when it came to power in 2013.

In 2014, Malta introduced civil unions with the same rights and obligations as marriage for same-sex people. This was followed by full marriage equality in June last year.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat acknowledged the mental shift that happened in 2011, in his interview with academic and radio broadcaster Andrew Azzopardi. When asked about his government’s civil rights agenda, Muscat said the most important moment was the divorce referendum when as Opposition leader he had taken a personal stand in favour.

“The divorce referendum… not only changed minds, but the rules of the game. It was a moment of mental liberation, even for what happened afterwards,” Muscat said in the interview that forms part of the book commemorating his 10 years at Labour’s helm.

Divorce over the years

A brief history of the long divorce debate and how it appeared sporadically on the political agenda until 2010.

1975:A Labour government introduces civil marriage but not divorce. However, Maltese courts can recognise a divorce obtained abroad.

1984:The Labour Party's women’s section approves a motion for the introduction of divorce and seeks to present it at the party’s annual general conference. It is withdrawn after pressure from the party’s leadership not to aggravate the situation with the Church that was already tense because of the Church schools dispute.

1989:The newly set-up party Alternattiva Demokratika makes divorce a central plank of its political programme and includes the proposal in every electoral manifesto since then.

1996:Former Labour MP Joe Brincat, who at the time was estranged from his party, presents a private member’s Bill for the introduction of divorce for couples that have been separated for five years. The Bill is never discussed.

1998:The Commission for the Future of the Family set up by Prime Minister Alfred Sant proposes the introduction of divorce through a parliamentary free-vote. No Bill is ever presented as the government faces mounting internal pressure on the matter.

2008:Labour’s newly elected leader Joseph Muscat says he will take it on himself to introduce a Private Member’s Bill on divorce once his party is in government.

2010:Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando presents a private member’s bill introducing divorce based on the Irish model. His action follows Alternattiva Demokratika’s petitioning of all MPs to debate divorce.

2011:A consultative referendum approves the introduction of divorce by 53%. This is followed by Parliament’s approval of divorce legislation.