Title

Constitutional reform: A petition for a representative democracy

Date

18-06-2024

Date petition closes for signatures

18-08-2024

Creator of petition

CYRUS ENGERER

Grievance

In the European Parliament elections held in Malta on Saturday 8th June 2024, 143,028 voters voted for independent candidates or small parties, or chose to abstain. Put together they constitute 38.6% of the entire electorate of Malta and Gozo.
Of these, 33,102 voted for independent candidates or small parties, translating into 12.7%. In the 2022 General Election, 12.7% translated into ten seats in a House of 79 Members of Parliament (MPs).
Yet, there is a high risk that none of the independent candidates or small parties will pick up a seat, due to the fact that under the current electoral system the quota is district-based. Candidates must therefore obtain 16.7% of the vote to be elected.
However, during the past legislature, Parliament introduced a mechanism to increase gender balance in parliamentary representation. In this way, an additional 12 seats were provided to female candidates from the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party who were not elected at District level.
That process is unique, since as provided for in Article 52A of the Constitution, it is triggered only after the votes pass the process of proportional representation by the single transferable vote as well as by the majority corrective mechanism. It is a process that has resulted in MPs elected, but elected without the quota requested by the other MPs.
The greatest principle of a representative democracy is that every vote counts. The principle that the will of the electorate be accurately reflected in the election result is equally sacrosanct.
It is therefore necessary to initiate an electoral reform process as soon as possible and certainly during this parliamentary term. This is also referred to by The President of Malta Her Excellency Dr Myriam Spiteri Debono in her inaugural speech on 4 April 2024, when she spoke in favour of higher democratic standards:

In order to see a representation of more formations in Parliament and also have more and more representation, even of the smallest cells in our society, amendments are necessary.

Wherefore I/we respectfully request the House of Representatives to

1. As soon as possible, open up a broad consultation process on the current electoral system;
2. Discuss, in principle, the introduction of a national threshold allowing for the full representation of the Maltese electorate;
3. This process leads to an electoral reform that will present a fairer system as from the next General Election.

Closing remarks

In all General Elections since the country’s Independence, the only political formations elected were under the umbrella of the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party.
The European Parliament elections has clearly shown that this dualist model is no longer true in an increasingly pluralist Malta, where political voices and formations have increased.
In the past legislature, the Parliament of Malta acknowledged the structural imbalance in women’s parliamentary representation and addressed it.
Now is the time for Parliament to also acknowledge the fact that in the last elections to the European Parliament, 143,028 (38.6%) voters chose not to vote for the parties currently in Government or Opposition. Of these, 33,102 (12.7%) voted for independent candidates or small parties.
The risk that a large band of voters remain unrepresented following the next General Election is unprecedented. This should be mitigated by welcoming the call of the President of Malta, Her Excellency Dr Myriam Spiteri Debono, to prepare the necessary amendments enabling the representation of further formations in Parliament.
We therefore request that a Constitutional process be launched as indicated in this petition.