Not a priority: PN, Labour shrug off AD's claims of discriminatory electoral law

AD has filed a judicial protest against the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader to amend the electoral law, namely because the clause in question provides a corrective action that ensures that when two parties are elected, their seats are proportional to their first-preference votes.

This amendment gave the PN, which won with a relative majority of just 1,500 votes, an extra four seats, bringing its parliamentary seat majority to just one seat. Alternattiva Demokratika are claiming that article 52 of the Constitution is discriminatory because it could only kick in if candidates from just two political parties are elected to the House.

Labour today said that other, "even more fundamental points" were priority. A spokesperson for the party said these included establishing who is eligible to vote after government ministers admitted they cannot ascertain that the electoral register is correct: "The procrastination on the belated renewal of the ID cards - practically all such documents in the country have been expired for years now - must be addressed."

On his part, PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier contends that AD’s claim that the constitutional amendment discriminates against small parties is “incorrect”. “Article 52 of the Constitution deals with the composition of the House of Representatives. It does not exclude, in any way, a third party from having its members elected to Parliament and provides mechanisms when candidates of two or more parties are elected to Parliament,” Borg Olivier told MaltaToday.

Borg Olivier failed to reply to MaltaToday’s questions on whether his party still favours the introduction of a national threshold to secure parliamentary representation for all parties who surpass this level of national support.

AD is proposing a 2.5% national threshold, which is even lower than the 5% threshold proposed by a commission chaired by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in the mid-1990s, when he was Speaker.

Traditionally, individual candidates can only be elected to parliament if they surpass a much higher district quota in a way that a party may get up to 16% of the national vote without getting any seat in parliament.

Through the latest electoral amendments, some candidates can also be elected to parliament on the basis of their party’s first count result as a result of the corrective mechanism.

Borg Olivier also dismissed AD’s claim that the current system militates against small parties. “Arguing that the current electoral system makes small parties less electable is also incorrect and is not borne out by the facts. The Single Transferable Vote (STV) system favours smaller parties, and this is proved in past national elections… Parties are electable with the STV system as long as the electorate votes for them”.

Borg Olivier also criticised AD for being inconsistent by proposing different thresholds at different time. “In 2005 AD proposed a national threshold of 1.5%, contrary to the variable thresholds of 1.7% and 6% in 2007, reverting back to 2.5% in its latest communication this week.”

Borg Olivier was tight-lipped on his party’s current stand in discussions in the select committee set up to strengthen democracy.

“Discussions in the Select Committee were bound by confidentiality. The PN has always been prudent and respected confidentiality even at a time when the leader of the Opposition went public on issues that were being discussed in the committee. The same happened when Alfred Sant tabled minutes and made public discussions held between PN, PL and AD in 2006.”

The PN secretary-general expressed his regret that work in the Select Committee came to a sudden standstill when the Labour Party pulled out abruptly last May in protest against a decision of the Speaker during a vote on a motion on the Delimara power station contract. “Any protest for the withdrawal of the Labour Party from the Select Committee should be directed only to Labour,” Borg Olivier said. AD has also described the PL pull out from the committee as “infantile”.

Labour was asked whether it contemplated other avenues to discuss for discussions on electoral reform following its withdrawal from the select committee but no answer was forthcoming.

But a Labour spokesperson said the current impasse had developed "after the Deputy Prime Minister blatantly lied about Justyne Caruana" referring to the parliamentary fracas that ensued after Tonio Borg claimed Caruana had voted against her side in the motion presented against the Delimara power station. "This situation needs to beaddressed.