News | Sunday, 19 July 2009

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Gonzi, Muscat call for electoral spending discussions

Charlot Zahra
In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Opposition leader Joseph Muscat yesterday wrote a joint letter to Speaker Louis Galea, calling on him to include electoral spending by candidates and parties on the agenda of the Select Committee under his chairmanship which is discussing matters of national importance.
Gonzi and Muscat insisted that while both sides of the House were in agreement that the transparency of the electoral process should be bolstered, “we should ensure… rules that are clear and not open to interpretation”.
“In view of this and following a consultation that took place between us, we hereby agree that the House Select Committee should include in its analysis, all the aspects related to this specific matter”.
Until now, both party leaders had remained ominously silent following a slew of media reports which that have brought the issue of candidate financing in the limelight after the European Parliament (EP) elections on 6 June 2009.
Only yesterday, another PN candidate, Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas, following legal advice, presented a declaration to the Electoral Commission which only included the expenses incurred in the last month of the campaign, when she officially presented her nomination as a candidate for the EP elections.
Tedecso Triccas said she had spent a total of €36,100.26 during her campaign, €17,465.26 more than the legal limit stipulated by law of €18,635 for the campaign.
However, she said that “following legal advice, the sworn declaration includes the expenses that I undertook as a candidate from the date during which I presented my nomination as a candidate for the EP elections on Sunday, 3 May, 2009”.
In this way, the sworn declaration presented to the Electoral Commission by Tedesco Triccas’s agents on Friday totalled €18,408.07, just within the electoral limit of €18,635 (Lm8,000) on the campaign.
Tedesco Triccas said that in spite of the contents of the sworn declaration by her electoral agent, “I feel that in view of the honesty and integrity that every politician should uphold and practice continuously, I am voluntarily publicly declaring the expenses that I made before I submitted my nomination as a candidate for the 6 June 2009 elections.”
Two PN candidates – Frank Portelli and Edward Demicoli – declared in front of Magistrate Silvio Meli that they could not take the oath in the manner prescribed by the Electoral Commission, as while their personal expenses had remained within the limit set out by law, the support by third parties meant that they had surpassed it. Earlier, Demicoli had already declared that he had spent €52,000 for the EP elections.
On the same day, another PN candidate, Alex Perici Calascione also took an oath before a notary declaring his personal campaign expenditure to be €9,569.
However, his declaration did not include expenditure by third parties, as according to his interpretation of the law, the expenditure by the party did not need to be included although he made a proviso that the sum declared had nothing to do with what the party spent.
None of five elected EP candidates – John Attard Montalto, Simon Busuttil, David Casa, Edward Demicoli and Louis Grech – have yet published their accounts of the electoral expenses spent.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt

Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below.
Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.

All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.

EDITORIAL


A self-inflicted problem

INTERVIEW