Debono will vote against budget, 9 March most probable election date

Yesterday, the MP confirmed that he would be holding his last parliamentary speech on Monday when he votes against the budget - an act that effectively means the Prime Minister must call elections, which are believed will be held in early March.

He sounded in combative mood when contacted by MaltaToday. "In Rome the taxi driver told me the roads were blocked, because students had been protesting on a weekly basis. It's an everyday reality there, but in Malta students carry the prime minister on their shoulders instead of rebelling against the system," the rebel backbencher said.

Debono said that tomorrow's budget vote will see "the foundations for a modern democracy laid... It's the only way the government and the political class will realise that the democratic institutions in Malta are crumbling," the MP said, who will go down in history as having brought Lawrence Gonzi's government down, even though it is well into its final year of its second legislature.

"The political system in Malta is sick," Debono said, again listing his major gripes such as the lack of an anti-corruption watchdog when Malta had fallen in the Corruption Perceptions Index, the lack of a party financing law, or a Whistleblowers' Act.

"There is no parliamentary autonomy, no resignation culture, we have an electoral system that makes it practically impossible for a third party to get elected, out-dated Standing Orders and a desperate need for justice reform and archaic broadcasting laws."

Debono is expected to not only list his grievances in tomorrow's speech, but also to illustrate his thesis of the democratic deficit prevailing in Malta and its parliament - a hallmark speech that will puncture the heart of the Nationalist administration he has so often criticised.

"Since Malta's independence, one party has ruled for 25 years while another ruled for 16 years uninterruptedly. There is no alternation in power, because the system is geared for the party in power to retain power," Debono said.

The MP will call for the need to rewrite the Constitution "from scratch", saying the national political system lacks the discipline and the political culture of the British system that it has tried to emulate, unsuccessfully.

Debono was unfazed about the prospect of a political legacy where he is held up to contempt for having voted against his own government.

"Ironically, many of the reforms and ideas I have been pushing will be included in all the political parties' electoral manifestos," Debono quipped.

Debono had long announced his intention not to support the Nationalist government when a 6 January 2012 Cabinet reshuffle left him out of a possible justice minister's role, after he vocally campaigned to have Lawrence Gonzi split the home affairs and justice ministry.

He had already abstained on a vote of no confidence moved by Labour against transport minister Austin Gatt over the public transport reform back in November 2011, and he subsequently abstained on a vote of no confidence against the government.

But after having voted in favour of the Opposition's motion that forced the resignation of home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Debono turned his attention to Gatt once again: the straw broke the camel's back was the privatisation of the car parks.

"It's like a riddle here in Malta, if you do not speak out against a minister he will not resign; if you speak out against him he will not resign to give an impression that he will not give in."

Asked what will happen of the PN after the election, Debono said: "I do not care what will happen from the PN. It is their business."

Debono pointed out that the PN was successful in governing for a whole legislature because together with others he permitted the government to fulfil its legislature, insisting that this fact alone frees him from any accusations which could be levelled against him once Parliament is dissolved and elections are called.

His take on Labour, was that he has no ties with the Opposition - a perception fuelled by Labour's keen strategy to pounce on the government's internal troubles.

"Labour must shoulder its responsibility for the state of democracy in Malta because it never offered an alternative to the PN in the last 25 years," Debono said, who also claimed he was offered the opportunity to contest past elections with Labour on the fifth district.

"I have always been a man of principle and this will never change," Debono said.

Asked whether this is the last we have heard of him on the political scene, Debono said: "I do not know. I have not thought about it."