Update 4 | Hunters collect 104,000 signatures for referendum reform, PN against changes to law

Around 400 hunters gathered in Valletta where they marched from City Gate to the Palace to present their petition to members of parliament.

They carried a banner reading 'Protect minorities' interests: tomorrow, it could be you', and later presented a petition to parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon which they said was signed by over 104,293 people - almost a quarter of Malta's population, and a third of the electorate.

No representatives of the Nationalist Party was present to collect the signatures.

Hunters' lobby (FKNK) president Joe Perici Calascione said the petition calls on MPs to "protect minorties' interests" - amongst them Malta's over 15,000 hunters - "Parliament cannot ignore these signatures, and ignore debating this petition to allow the Referendum Act to be used vindictively to attack the right of a minority."

Parliamentary secretary for planning Michael Falzon, who brokered a pre-electoral deal with hunters for Labour, will be presenting the petition in parliament on behalf of the government. The FKNK also approached the Nationalist Party who in turn informed the hunters that the issue “had yet to be discussed”.

Falzon told the press after accepting the petition that it would be "arrogant of him" not to present the petition. He said he will lay the petition on the table of the House of Representatives tomorrow. The signatures were presented to the Clerk of the House.

In a reaction to the signatures presented by the FKNK, the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting said the debate on spring hunting “is set to be a lively one”.

“If the 100,000-signature petition submitted by the FKNK to parliament today represents genuine support for spring hunting, it will make for an interesting and lively debate in the run-up to a national referendum on the issue next year,” CASH said in a brief statement.

The PN, in a statement, declared itself against “any attempt at stopping the nation from expressing itself” on any subject upon which enough signatures for an abrogative referendum have been collected.

“It was the PN itself that introduced legislation to allow people to call for an abrogative referendum, which is the Opposition will not join Michael Falzon in presenting this petition to parliament.

The PN however said that its position on hunting was in favour of a limited and regulated season for spring. “It was the PN in government that negotiated with the EU so that Malta can have a limited and regulated spring hunting season, and derogate [from the ban on spring hunting]. When legal steps were taken against Malta on this derogation, the Nationalist government fought this out in the European Court of Justice and won. The PN still endorses this position.”

The petition calls on parliamentarians to amend the Referenda Act after the Coalition Against Spring Hunting presented a petition to hold a referendum to abolish spring hunting.

Malta derogates from an EU ban on spring hunting every year.

The signatures collected by the FKNK include minors who amount to 0.78% of the total signatures collected, FKNK said. The highest amount of signatories to the petition is aged between 16 and 28. 49 to 58-year-olds reportedly amount to 20.10%.

The hunting lobby is arguing that the abrogative referendum could be used to abuse of other minority groups and is also ready to take the issue before the Constitutional Court.