Here’s Why A PN Victory Could Have Caused A Constitutional Crisis In Malta
It may have been a remote possibility, but if the Nationalist Party won this month’s general election, Malta could have been thrown into a constitutional crisis where the real winner would have had to be decided by court.
A legal battle would have likely ensued over a mechanism in Maltese law which is meant to correct an election result when one party gets the majority of votes and the other party gets the majority of seats. This law was introduced as a reaction to the 1981 “perverse” result in which PN won the majority of votes but Labour won the majority of seats.
According to the law, the corrective mechanism only applies when there are two parties elected to Parliament. If there are more than two parties, the number of seats remains the winning factor.
And that’s what brings us to the problem that could have been created this time around. PN ran in ‘coalition’ with Partit Demokratiku, the party fronted by Marlene Farrugia. This was a unique situation because even though PD candidates were listed under PN on the ballot sheet, they were actually members of PD, which is officially registered as a completely separate political party. In fact, Marlene Farrugia celebrated her election as historic because it was the first time in ages a third party was elected to Parliament.
If the PN had won the election and did so despite winning a minority of seats – a likely scenario given how Malta’s districts are divided – the courts would have had to decide whether PD counts as a third party, in which case the mechanism would not have been able to apply.
“If the PN had won the election and did so despite winning a minority of seats – a likely scenario given how Malta’s districts are divided – the courts would have had to decide whether PD counts as a third party…”
Political pundit Frank Portelli told Lovin Malta it was highly likely that the Labour Party would have taken the matter to court given that it has started a court case on similar lines even though it won by a massive majority.
He was referring to a court case Labour began earlier this month to contest two extra seats that the Electoral Commission granted to PN on the basis of a similar corrective mechanism which was enacted in 2007 to ensure stricter proportionality between the public’s vote and parliamentary seats.
According to Labour, PN should not get an extra two seats because there are now three parties in Parliament. This is why Marlene Farrugia is now arguing that she represents PN, not the party of which she is leader.
The courts are expected to decide on this court case shortly but an appeal is likely to come from the losing side. The end result won’t have much of an impact, but this would not have been the case if the same legal dilemma would have determined which party got elected into government.
Do you think Marlene Farrugia’s seat in Parliament belongs to the PN or to PD? Have your say in the comments below or on Facebook.
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