UPDATE: ‘GonziPN’ in deep political crisis

Last Sunday’s resounding vote in favour of divorce has triggered an unprecedented political crisis within government and the Nationalist Party, to the extent that MP Beppe Fenech Adami admitted during last Monday’s parliamentary group that the No camp was “checkmated” (gibtuna nitkellmu wehidna).

Fenech Adami’s remark came was made in the wake of a desperate appeal he addressed to the Prime Minister during the meeting, when he asked a puzzled Dr Gonzi to guide the PN parliamentary group on how to vote when the bill comes before the House.

The Birkirkara MP is reported to have addressed Lawrence Gonzi at least three times during the parliamentary group meeting to qualify what he meant by saying that parliament must respect the people’s decision.

“You are my leader, and I need to know how people like myself who clearly have crisis of conscience to deal with on this matter,” Fenech Adami was reported as telling Gonzi.

Contacted yesterday, Beppe Fenech Adami refused to go into the merit of his intervention during the parliamentary group meeting, but stressed that he has a difficult choice ahead.

“I won’t vote against, but I could abstain or even resign,” Fenech Adami said.

He added however that according to his calculations, the Bill will pass, but should there be the remote situation whereby the numbers don’t add up, then he would have to reconsider his position. “As I said, I won’t vote against, but I could abstain or resign.”

But today Beppe Fenech Adami denied saying that he would vote against.  “What I told Karl Stagno Navarra is that I shall be consistent in my stand against the introduction of divorce in Malta.  For the proposed legislation to become law it a parliamentary majority which is required.  I see no problem for such a majority to be acquired."

A number of MPs also confronted the Prime Minister on the way forward and was challenged to say how he will vote in parliament.

Gonzi was the first to call for a referendum on divorce hours after Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando had presented the Private Member’s Bill in July 2010, also leading the PN to adopt a stand against divorce.

A majority of MPs followed the Prime Minister’s lead and declared themselves against divorce, and are now facing the embarrassment of making a U-turn.

But while Gonzi refuses to budge from his position and declare how he will vote in parliament, MPs are venting their anger as they interpret the Prime Minister and his Cabinet’s silence as a choreographed stand by replying only that they will vote “according to conscience.”

MPs Robert Arrigo, Jean-Pierre Farrugia, Jesmond Mugliett, Censu Galea and Franco Debono all spoke on the odd and critical situation the party was in and that there was no easy way out, except by doing the honourable thing of accepting the people’s will and have their vote reflect that will.

Backbenchers are even claiming they have been ‘set up’ by Cabinet, who are hiding behind a rehearsed and vague reply as to how they will vote in parliament, despite a call by the Prime Minister for the House to “respect” the people’s decision.

Contacted yesterday, most backbenchers refused to comment, but some said that they will not accept a situation where Ministers would ‘hide’ behind their assumption of numbers within the house to have the bill passed.

“I will not be the one to be left out to dry to save their face while they comfortably chose to abstain,” an irate MP told MaltaToday.

MP Franco Debono said that “voting No is definitely not on the cards” and added that the time has come for the PN to do some thorough soul-searching and understand the motives behind such disastrous results.

“After the 2009 MEP election result and Saturday’s referendum, the party needs to conduct a thorough soul-searching excercise and listen more to the people,” he said.

Other MPs reacted to how the Prime Minister persists in speaking on behalf of the Church, when he remarked yesterday that he was preoccupied by the tensions towards the Church.

“The Prime Minister must be secular, and should never speak about the Church the way he is, especially when one knows that it was the Church that created the tensions during this campaign,” the MP said.