Last week, Lovin Malta posted a list of possible presidential candidates.

Although there is a lot of secrecy surrounding the potential nominees, and all anyone can do at the moment is speculate on who may be nominated, during an interview yesterday evening with Saviour Balzan, Malta’s Prime Minister hinted at some qualities the newly-elected President must have.

 

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According to Robert Abela, “the President should be a progressive person that steers away from conservativeness.”

This is a very interesting criteria, especially since the current President George Vella was reportedly reluctant to sign a new IVF law back in 2022, a bill which was eventually signed into law by Acting President Frank Bezzina while President Vella was out of the country.

Abela also said that the President must be able to create a sense of “unity within the country”.

One of the most progressive names that has been floating around is Helena Dalli, who spearheaded major reforms for the LGBT+ community.

Current President Vella was the last to be elected by a simple majority of the House of Representatives, a mechanism which gave the Government the prerogative to choose a president of their liking.

Following an amendment to the Constitution in 2020, the newly-appointed President now requires the backing of two-thirds of the House of Representatives. This would mean that the new President would also need the backing of the Opposition.

In yesterday’s interview, Abela mentioned that “if the opposition and the government do not come to an agreement, they would have a constitutional impasse” since there is no “anti-deadlock mechanism”.

What do you make of Abela’s statement?