Labour Party was quick to change statute when it suited them, insists Fenech Adami

Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami has accused the Labour Party (PL) of trying to buy time to avoid having to publish its list of donations, by claiming that it can’t yet register as a political party due to pending amendments in the party’s statute which are required for it to register. 

“They found time to amend it for Konrad Mizzi to become deputy leader. Joseph Muscat wanted Konrad Mizzi to become his deputy leader so much that last year, that in just one week the statute was amended for Konrad Mizzi to be elected,” he said.

Since the PL is yet to register itself, the Electoral Commission must explain how MP Clifton Grima was allowed to contest a bi-election, months after the PL had missed its deadline to register, argued Fenech Adami

Fenech Adami was speaking in Parliament as the House debated changes to the country’s electoral districts, where he said that the Opposition will not be voting in favour of changes proposed by the Electoral Commission

At the start of the debate, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that it was necessary for changes to be made to these districts from time to time, so as for them to reflect changes in the country’s demographics.

“We are all politicians contesting the general election and it is in our interest not to have districts changed since we all know our constituents. That being said, our constitution includes provisions for changing these districts to compensate for demographic changes across the country,” said Muscat.

He explained that in cases were the population of a district has fallen, a situation could arise where candidates are elected with considerably less votes than those in other districts, and vice versa, adding that the changes were important to ensure the population was represented proportionally in parliament. 

Fenech Adami said that the opposition had reviewed the proposals put forward by the electoral commission and had concluded that a better proposal should be put forward, adding that until it was, the opposition would be voting against the proposed changes.

The changes would see a part of Fgura being transferred to the second district, part of Luqa to the sixth, and parts of Naxxar and St Paul’s Bay to the 12th.

“This proposal includes four instances of districts being divided. Those of us that do house visits know how much residents dislike having their locality split between different districts,” he said. “There is also a minority report which proposes changes that will only split two districts and in our opinion it is better than the electoral commission’s proposal.”

Turning to the electoral register, Fenech Adami accused the government of threatening democracy because, according to the MP, there were a number of people that were listed in the electoral register twice, under different ID card numbers.

“If an election were held tomorrow, these people would be able to vote twice,” insisted Fenech Adami, adding that the Opposition would not allow the Labour Party to “steal the election”

Labour MP Michael Falzon pointed out that the electoral register was not perfect and this was not the first instance of irregularities being pointed out.

“Let’s not paint a picture that it was ever perfect,” said Falzon, who said that he had had to provide death certificates in the past in order to strike off some 101 dead individuals. He warned against exaggerating the issue, insisting that both parties could come to together to remove any people who were listed twice.

Owen Bonnici said that ultimately it is the electoral commission that has the power to make changes to electoral district, adding that the government was agreed with the commission’s proposal

“Even if the government did not agree with this, the electoral commission would still have its say, and changes would take place according to the wishes of the commission,” said Bonnici

He said that he too was saddened by the fact that he would be losing constituents as a result of the changes but insisted that this was necessary for better representation of the population in parliament.

Referring to comments by Fenech Adami, Bonnici said the only reason it was possible for the country to be discussing party financing was because the government had introduced this law, after the previous administration had resisted making this change.