European parties call for international observers at referendum

The Electoral Commission yesterday confirmed that the European Greens and the European Humanist Federation are among the organisations to have requested the presence of international observers, in order to monitor proceedings before and during the day of the referendum.

MaltaToday is also informed that the European Liberal Alliance is separately considering whether to request observers present at the counting hall, after receiving reports of political imbalance in the build-up to the referendum.

Chief Electoral Commissioner Saviour Gauci told this newspaper that all such requests will be discussed in depth at a special meeting (to take place “after Holy Week has passed”) with a view to agreeing upon and establishing a set of procedural parameters.

“This is an unusual situation,” he admitted yesterday. “We would like to come up with a set of agreed procedures, rather than just approach each request on a case by case basis.”

Amendments to Malta’s Referendum Act in 2002 – a year before the EU referendum – gave the Nationalist and Labour Parties exclusive privileges in the political supervision of all stages of preparation and conduct of the 28 May divorce referendum: including the automatic right to field Assistant Commissioners.

The upshot is that only the ‘two parties represented in parliament’ can take an active role in all logistical aspects of the referendum process: including monitoring the actual vote-count.

With one of the two parties concerned (the PN) having adopted an anti-divorce position, and the other (Labour) remaining non-committal on the issue, this effectively means that there will be no representation of the Yes lobby at any stage of the divorce referendum at all.

Iva campaign manager Michael Falzon recently complained that this creates an automatic imbalance, which may compromise the integrity of the entire exercise.

“The Referendum Act assumes that all referenda will take place on partisan lines,” he said. “The situation places political parties with an interest in the outcome at an unfair advantage.”

Falzon is clearly not alone in this concern. Correspondence seen by this newspaper confirms that this political imbalance has already elicited considerable interest overseas.

“The referendum on divorce on 28 May is of huge interest and significance, and not just in Malta. It is essential that it be seen to be conducted fairly,” David Pollock, president of the European Humanist Federation, wrote to the Commission earlier this month.

“We understand that your present intention is to limit the right to appoint observers at the count to the two political parties. This risks being seen as partisan, since neither party is campaigning for a Yes vote.”

Pollock went on to urge the Commissioner to ensure transparency and openness throughout the referendum process.

“In our view, and that of many others, it is vital that you allow representatives of the Yes campaign to appoint observers or, failing that, give the right to external organisations committed to due process and rule of law. This Federation is one of many that would be willing to act in this capacity if you adopted this policy, which we most strongly urge you to do.”

Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio separately confirmed that the European Greens, alerted to the situation by their Malta affiliated party, have sent a similar written request to the Commission.

“AD has already been informed that we will not be allowed to field commissioners,” he told MaltaToday. “The European Greens have raised this issue with the Electoral Commission. So far they have received an acknowledgement of their letter, but no formal reply.”

Elsewhere, the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) are also understood to have taken an interest, though at the time of writing they have not yet sent any formal request to the Electoral Commission.