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FAQ - Divorce, bills and referenda
A flash primer on legislating on divorce and voting in a referendum.
2 February 2011, 12:00am
James Debono
James Debono
2 min read
When will parliament vote?
It is yet not clear whether a vote in parliament will be taken on the divorce bill presented by Evarist Bartolo and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando before or after a vote is taken in parliament. It also remains unclear whether MPs would be amending the bill before a vote is taken.
This raises the prospect of the bill being changed beyond recognition before it is presented to the electorate. Subjecting the bill to a vote in parliament before the referendum could mean that no referendum will be held. For this could signal the death knell of the bill and a final no to divorce in this legislature. The passing of the bill will be extremely unlikely if more than three Labour MPs vote against divorce. But this scenario can be avoided if the referendum is held before the bill reaches a third reading.
Which question will be put to the electorate?
The devil may well be in the question. Surveys have shown that opinions on divorce change according to the wording of the referendum question. While a clear majority favours divorce being introduced for couples separated from each other for more than four years, the result is more doubtful if the electorate is simply asked whether it agrees with divorce or not.
When will we be voting?
The choice of date could have a direct impact on the outcome of the referendum. Although surveys have shown a pro divorce majority the situation could be reversed by a higher level of mobilisation among the no camp which has the backing of the church. If the referendum is held in the summer months when younger people generally take their holidays, the higher turnout among anti divorce voters could well crown a No victory.
What is a parliamentary division?
In parliamentary procedure, a division of the assembly (also division of the house or simply division) is a form of voting method used in deliberative assemblies, often undertaken upon a motion, in which the members of the assembly take a rising vote, literally dividing into groups indicating a vote in favour of or in opposition to a motion on the floor.
When a bill is finally in its third reading, the Speaker may either declare the bill unanimously approved (nem. con.) or carried. If a division is requested, the House shall suspend its proceedings for 20 minutes. Upon resuming, the Chair shall order the Chamber doors to be closed and requests the Clerk to the House to call out all the Members' names and record the number of ‘Ayes' and ‘Noes'. The Speaker will then be in a position to declare whether the bill has been carried through its Third Reading stage by a majority of Members present and voting, save as otherwise provided in the Constitution.
James Debono is MaltaToday's chief reporter on environment, planning and land use issues, ...
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On this issue of a parliamentary vote *before* a referendum: Please consult the one sentence in Article 3(1)(a) of the Referenda Act... I could avoid of lot of anguished and angry commentary.
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Divorce is a civil issue and it should be decided by a referendum. The church should keep its nose out of it. Due to Malta not having divorce I watched my mother suffer. She had over sixty years of miserable married life.
My father was a bible basher and went to church twice a day. He did not drink, smoke or gamble. In contrast, for no reason he used to treat my mum badly and beat her up on a regular basis.
I remember her with black eyes, dislocated shoulder and jaw and many bruises all over her body. Being children, my brothers and I feared him. He forced us go to church every day.
My mother was a very good woman who dedicated her life to bringing up the eleven children she bore for my nasty father. She used to feed us well and make most of our clothes. I know that she went without many necessary things to make sure that we were all looked after well.
The kapilan knew about the suffering my mother endured. All he could say to console her was “God gave you a cross and you have to carry it”. So much for the stupid Catholic Church and its clergy.
I know that my mum would have left my father if divorce had been available at that time. Unfortunately, she suffered all of her married life, but she outlived my father.
One of my sisters has been going through the same bad experience for the past thirty years. The difference is that her nasty, unfaithful husband is not a bible basher or church going person.
Due to my bad experience at home I emigrated at the age of eighteen. I married an English girl in the Catholic Church. Our marriage did not work out. After eight years we got divorced this was mutually agreed and it did not cost much or take too long to go through. It took me four years to get an annulment through the Maltese Catholic Church and it cost me a lot of money and a lot of psychological stress.
A few years later I remarried to another English lady. She gave me two children and we are very happy. This time I had a civil marriage. I am very pleased that I did not get married in the Catholic Church. After my experience I made sure that I kept my distance from the most hypocritical religion on earth.
I did not baptise our children and I did not encourage them to follow any religion. However, they both did very well at university and they are very successful in their professional careers.
Divorce is not an evil. It is evil to expect people to stay and suffer in unsuitable, miserable marriages. It is evil to expect children witness their mother being beaten on a regular basis. If this is what God expects, then he is perverse. If divorce is the solution, then so be it.
I know that there are many broken marriages in Malta. In such a situation both husband and wife suffer, including the children. I never forgave my father for the way he treated my wonderful MUM and I will never forgive the clergy either.
It is about time that Malta joined the 21st century and the civilised world by having divorce available for those who want it.
Stop listening to political hypocrites like Dr Eddied Fenech Adami, Prime Minister Gonzi and all those who agree with them, including the Catholic Church. PM Gonzi is a hypocritical liar like his uncle archbishop Michael Gonzi. These people have Medieval minds and have proved to be the most corrupt politicians in Maltese history. Go out in the streets and demonstrate like the Egyptians and the Algerians did until you get what you want. DIVORCE. After all the French, British, Italians and all other European countries express their disapproval towards their governments by demonstration until they get what they want. Do not be afraid.
