Gżira Mayor Hits Out At ‘Bla Sens’ Gender Quota Mechanism: ‘What Is Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gender’
Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manche has taken a firm stance against Malta’s Parliamentary gender quota mechanism, having labeled the system as ‘bla-sens’ (nonsense).
The statement came from a comment on a video posted by Independent Candidate Arnold Cassola, who had been addressing the mechanism on TVAM.
“I absolutely disagree with this ‘bla-sens’ mechanism. [The] representation must fully reflect the will of the people and not just what others want,” Borg Manche wrote.
“What is good for the goose is good for the gender”
Borg Manche was not the first to adopt such a stance against the newly-imposed system.
In fact, PN MP Eve Borg Bonello also lambasted the system, having stated that given the option, she would “vote against gender quotas because they backfired totally” despite having been elected by way of the system itself.
“The Maltese voter wants control over who represents them and it’s only fair. It’s basic democracy. Once the Maltese voter loses control, they rebel,” she said in an exclusive Lovin Malta interview.
When asked, Borg Bonello maintained her stance, insisting that she would vote against the system on the basis that “women are capable of getting there alone.”
In 2019, criminal lawyer and former MP Franco Debono had come out strongly against the government’s plans to boost the number of women in Parliament, warning the last thing Malta needs is even more MPs.
At the time, Debono said that debate should focus around reducing, and certainly not increasing, the number of MPs.
The gender quota mechanism kicked in for the first time ever this year, with PL and PN electing six MPs each according to the number of votes they received by the time they were knocked out of the race.
With 22 MPs, women now make up 27.8% of Parliament, which is significantly higher than the 13% of the last legislature but just below the EU average of 33% as recorded in 2020.
However, Borg Manche criticised the mechanism for favouring the two main political parties. A detriment to the ‘democratic’ representation of women in parliament.
Following the election, ADPD opened a constitutional case on the election result stressing that the Constitution and Electoral laws discriminate against parties other than the two main parties – the PL and the PN.
Borg Manche said that the representation should fully reflect the will of the people and not simply add more firepower to Malta’s two major parties, which have dominated the electoral platform for decades.
Do you think more changes are needed in Parliament’s gender quota system?