Parliamentary secretary set to sue AD for libel over referendum claims

Michael Falzon denies Alternattiva Demokratika's claims that he had called for fresh limitations to Malta's referendum laws.

Planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon intends to sue Alternattiva Demokratika and its chairman Arnold Cassola for libel over claims that he had called for fresh limitations to Malta’s referendum laws.

On Thursday, Cassola accused Falzon of “declaring that he will be suggesting amendments to the Referendum Act, with the intention of curtailing the rights of citizens to call for an abrogative referendum”.

When contacted by MaltaToday, Cassola said that he received the information from a third party who had claimed that Falzon had said as such on an early morning programme on ONE TV on Monday. He admitted to not having seen the programme himself.

The programme featured Falzon and Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis discussing the spring hunting referendum results a day after the results were announced.

MaltaToday acquired a recording of the programme and discovered that Falzon had in fact not spoken about changes to Malta’s referendum laws.

“I never, ever mentioned anything in the sense of limiting the right to referenda, contrary to what was maliciously stated in certain media,” Falzon told MaltaToday. “I also never made any suggestions in this sense.

“On the contrary, I have on record repeatedly stated weeks before the holding of the referendum that whatever the result would be, it should be respected wholly by all and sundry.”

Kathleen Grima, a lawyer for the hunting federation FKNK, has already called on Parliament to discuss a change to abrogative referendum laws so as to “safeguard minorities”.

“Safeguards in the law already exist to provide a legal basis for abrogative referenda to get challenged in the Constitutional Court,” Grima said. “I would like to see these safeguards extended so that abrogative referenda can be challenged in the Court on the basis of minority rights. I believe in the rule of the majority, but with respect to minorities. The majority should not abuse the minority.”

In June 2014, the FKNK presented Falzon with a petition of 104,293 signatures, calling on Parliament to debate an update to the Referendum Act so that it would “protect the rights of a minority”. The FKNK’s petition came after the Coalition Against Spring Hunting (CASH) presented a petition with 44,376 signatures to the Electoral Commission, calling for an abrogative referendum to abolish spring hunting.

Falzon tabled the petition in Parliament the next day, but it has not yet been discussed in the House.

However, Alternattiva Demokratika have criticised the proposal as a means of suppressing democracy.

"Hands off our referenda. The people of Malta have fought over the years to widen participative democracy in our country,” Cassola said. “The abrogative referendum has already many limitations attached to it. Any further attempt at restricting it can only be meant as a means of suppressing the democratic will of the people."