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James Debono
Only 35 members of the Malta Labour Party’s national executive out of a total of 56 participated in the meeting in which a unanimous vote was taken in favour of a qualified yes to the European Constitution.
This was confirmed by MLP secretary general Jason Micallef who added that this was the normal level of attendance in meetings of the party’s executive.
The MLP’s executive voted in favour of the position taken by the MLP parliamentary group in favour of a qualified yes for the EU’s constitutional treaty. This position was adopted in one of the secret votes taken during the meetings of the parliamentary group.
Effectively this means that 62 per cent of the members of the executive participated in this meeting.
Sources close to the Malta Labour Party informed MaltaToday that barely half the members of the national executive attended this meeting and that critics of the Constitutional treaty did not attend.
The vote in the MLP’s executive was taken by a show of hands. In an interview with Alfred Sant (pages 12, 13), the Labour leader insisted that votes in the party’s executive are usually taken by a show of hands. Jason Micallef said that a secret vote in the party’s executive is only taken if requested by anyone attending this meeting and that nobody attending made a request for a secret vote.
While the vote in the party’s executive was taken by a show of hands, this was not the case in the parliamentary group where a number of secret votes were taken.
A report published this week by the MLP in meetings held by the parliamentary group shows that different positions were articulated on various aspects of the implications of this treaty.
Different positions were expressed on the supremacy of the Constitution, on whether a referendum should be held and on how the MLP should vote in Parliament. The secret votes taken in the parliamentary group were not unanimous.
jdebono@newsworksltd.com
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