Criminal lawyer and former MP Franco Debono has 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.

“One of the greatest plagues of Maltese life is that politics invades people’s lives from the cradle to the grave,” Debono wrote in a blogpost. “Familiarity breeds contempt and one of Malta’s worst problems is the excess level of familiarity between politicians and citizens, a consequence of the fact that Parliament is extremely bloated.”

The government is proposing a ‘gender corrective mechanism’ if the under-represented sex in Parliament, currently women, obtains fewer than 40% of the seats.

The PL and the PN will both be given an equal number of extra seats to allot to women candidates, capped at a total of 12 seats (six for PL and six for PN). This will ultimately mean that the number of Maltese MPs will increase from 67 to 79.

Meanwhile, the state will also provide funding to political parties to recruit, train and promote women candidates and a sunset clause will be inserted into the law to ensure it will expire after 20 years.

However, Debono said that debate should focus around reducing, and certainly not increasing, the number of MPs.

“While British MPs represent an average of 70,000 people, Maltese MPs represent 5,000,” he said. “While a British district of 70,000 people elects a single MP, a Maltese district of 25,000 people elects five MPs. It is hard for MPs to foster a sense of excess familiarity and intimacy among 70,000 constituents but it is slightly easier with 5,000 people.”

“This is the source of the bare-faced clientelism and epidemic nepotism of Maltese society”

“The last thing this country needs is to have even more MPs. If these reforms go through and if MPs are given the option to become full-time, you will not be able to sneeze without an MP popping up and offering you a tissue.”

Cover photo: Left: Franco Debono, Right: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat

What do you make of these proposals?

READ NEXT: Could The Splitting Up Of The AG’s Role Open The Floodgates To Legal Challenges In Malta?

Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]