President George Vella’s decision not to intervene in the leadership crisis in the Nationalist Party has left Malta’s parliamentary democracy weaker than ever, activist group Republikka has warned.

“Unfortunately, our Constitution seems to provide the opportunity to people in power to act outside basic rules of democracy and in defiance of common sense, ironically justifying their actions on the Constitution itself”

“It seems clear to us that our Parliamentary democracy has been crippled even more by the President’s actions this week,” the group said.

Malta’s Constitution clearly states that the President is empowered to remove the Opposition Leader should another MP hold the majority of support. However, the President said that while Delia has lost majority support, he had to consider to consequences of removing him as Opposition Leader, namely the question of who will replace him.

After losing the vote of confidence, Opposition and PN leader Adrian Delia continued to grip onto his leadership role and pledged to take disciplinary action against rebel members of his party.

He mentioned four MPs: Chris Said, Claudette Buttigieg, David Thake and Therese Comodini Cachia, the latter nominated by opposing MPs to take Delia’s place as Opposition leader.

“We are disappointed that our Constitution did not appear to provide sufficient clarity to provide a predictable outcome after a confirmed majority of Opposition MPs declared they lost confidence in the Leader of Opposition.”

“The President yesterday seemed to blame the Constitutional text for his failure to do what the Constitution appears to us to be demanding of him,” they wrote.

They also accused the President of acting without any form of transparency, in which a decision that determines the future fate of the Opposition party was decided behind closed doors away from public accountability.

“All the deliberations appeared to have occurred inside the President’s head. The public has no visibility of the advice he has received, who has given it, whether he has accepted that advice or overruled it and whether that advice has been appropriately cross-examined,” they explained.

Repubblika claimed that the President was more focused on “serenity” rather than the application of the law.

“The President has often described himself as ‘the guardian of the Constitution’ but yesterday he declared he was tossing away what the Constitution demanded he does, in favour of his political judgement of what is more desirable,” they wrote.

Ultimately, Repubblika warned that the President’s decision was proof that the constitution was “woefully inadequate”.

“If the President is right that the Constitution relies on political parties to choose for us the people who hold constitutional office, then we have no laws to ensure even the most basic principles of a workable democracy are in place,” they warned.

Photo: Illum 

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