‘Independents In Parliament’: Il-Kollettiv Launches Petition To Reform Malta’s Electoral System
Political platform Il-Kollettiv has launched a petition to reform Malta’s electoral system, in an attempt to adapt the system to the current voice of the voters.
“A democracy is only strong when it represents the smaller voices, and not only at election time,” a statement by the group reads.
Il-Kollettiv deputy Secretary Cyrus Engerer, the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Wellbeing Claire Azzopardi Lane and activist Omar Rababah have presented the petition on behalf of the group.
Il-Kollettiv seeks to give representation to the 143,028 voters who chose to vote for independent and smaller parties – or to abstain – in the last European Parliament elections held on 8th June. These amount to 38.6% of the electorate; out of these, 12.7% voted for independent or smaller candidates.
This confirms how the Maltese voter’s profile is changing as time goes by, and how there are shifts in opinion from one election to the other. However, despite these shifts in the electorate’s preferences, the electoral law hasn’t changed: under the current system, candidates require 16.7% of the district vote to be elected.
“An analysis of the votes achieved by the independent and smaller parties will show that, at 12.7%, it will equate to 10 of the 79 seats in the national Parliament. In reality, however, the present system works in favour of the two big parties, and this means that no independent or third party will ever be elected,” the presenters of the petition stated.
“At every election, various representatives of the two major parties insist that voting for a smaller party is equal to wasting your vote. After 143,028 voters chose not to vote for either government or opposition parties, it’s high time that they are given a fair representation in our democracy. Through this petition, the public has the chance to show that it wants to be represented in the running of the country.”
The civil society group is collecting signatures from the public via an online petition hosted on the site of the Maltese Parliament, calling for the immediate opening of a consultation process with the aim of carrying out the reform within this legislature.
The petition calls on the House of Representatives to:
1. Immediately and during this legislature, launch a wide-ranging consultation process on the electoral system;
2. Discuss, as a matter of principle, the introduction of a national threshold that guarantees a full representation of the Maltese electorate;
3. Initiate the full process leading to an electoral reform, which presents a fairer system as from the next general elections
If you’re interested in signing the petition, click here.
Do you think Malta’s electoral system needs a change?
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