Tonio Fenech says lack of free vote on gay marriage 'North Korea style' politics

Former Nationalist finance minister Tonio Fenech has ripped into the PN and the Labour Party for failing to grant their MPs a free vote on the proposed Marriage Equality Bill that will introduce gay marriage.

Writing on Facebook, Fenech said that that if the two parties are “scared” to grant their MPs a free vote on Wednesday, then it would truly mean that Malta “has become like North Korea, that punishes objectors, and not a true European country”.

“In this country, you can insult the Archbishop and ridicule pictures of Jesus all you like, but you aren’t allowed to disagree with the destruction of the concept of marriage as we know it,” he said, adding that both Labour and PN are supporting this Bill out of political convenience and not ideological conviction.

Fenech said that the fact that the PN has proposed 80 amendments to the government’s Bill proves that the Marriage Equality Bill wasn’t the same law that the party had wanted to implement when it had included gay marriage in its electoral manifesto without discussion amongst the parliamentary group.

“The argument that the PN can’t grant their MPs a conscience vote [because gay marriage was in their manifesto] therefore falls flat,” he said.

He questioned how the PN can continue call itself a party based on values when it ignored an objection to the Bill raised by one of its own MPs, a reference to Edwin Vassallo who voted against the Bill at its second reading this week.