After the Independence celebrations last week, which marked the unofficial beginning of the electoral campaign, the political spotlight shifted in earnest this week to the parliamentary arena, where the constitutional amendments agreed between the two parties represented in Parliament, the Malta Labour Party (MLP) and the Nationalist Party (PN) were approved during a marathon four-hour sitting on Wednesday evening.
Under this Bill, for which a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives was required, Gozo will be considered as a whole in one district when electoral boundaries are drawn up.
When candidates from only two political parties are elected to Parliament but one of the parties is under-represented, extra seats will be credited to reflect the first count votes of that party.
When candidates from more than two parties are elected and one of the parties has an absolute majority of votes but it is under-represented, it will be credited extra seats to reflect its votes.
In all cases, seat allocation will be based on first count votes polled by parties. The number of seats in the House has to remain odd.
All the changes included in this Bill will come into force before the next general election, thus enabling Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to call a general election under the new rules as soon as November.
Speaking during the second reading, Opposition leader Alfred Sant said that if these amendments been in place for past elections, the will of the electorate would have been better reflected.
There would have been no change to the outcome of the 1976 election but the electoral outcome would have been different in 1981. There would have been no change in 1987 and 1992.
In 1996, however, Labour would have been allocated a three seat majority and not one, while in the 1998 and 2003 elections, the Nationalists’ majority would have been three seats, not five. “Labour, therefore, felt that these amendments would bring about greater fairness and would strengthen democracy,” Sant said.
Other political parties cried foul at the electoral agreement between Labour and the PN, with Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) deputy chairperson Stephen Cachia describing the deal as “cowardly” and far-right party Azzjoni Nazzjonali (AN) leader Josie Muscat said that the deal will “perpetuate a two-party dictatorship”.
Political observers noted that the speed with which this Bill was passed through Parliament (hurtling through the second reading, committee stage and third reading stages in one sitting) showed that when something is of political advantage to both the Labour and the Nationalist parties, matters take an unusual acceleration worthy of a 100m sprint!