Government fails to garner two-thirds vote for standards commissioner nomination

Parliament has shot down the request to have Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi appointed to the post of Standards Commissioner.

The motion saw 41 MPs vote in favour and 30 MPs against.

A second vote will take place on 27 February to decide on the nomination for a new Standards Commissioner.

Parliament recently enacted a legal amendment to introduce an anti-deadlock mechanism in the appointment of the standards commissioner.

The amendment was put forward because the Government and Opposition were at loggerheads over who should be the new commissioner.

Government nominated Joseph Azzopardi for the post, but the Nationalist Party felt that he was not the right candidate.  Given that the appointment requires a two-thirds majority in parliament, the Opposition’s refusal to play ball led to an impasse.

With the new anti-deadlock mechanism, the standards commissioner can be appointed by parliament through a simple majority vote if the nomination fails to garner a two-thirds majority in two previous voting rounds.

Wednesday’s vote was the first round, and thus required a two-thirds majority.

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