Gender quotas for MPs will be discriminatory, Godfrey Farrugia warns

Partit Demokratiku MP Godfrey Farrugia has come out against the Prime Minister’s call for a gender quota system to boost the number of female MPs, warning that such a move will be discriminatory in nature.

“I don’t believe that imposing restrictions on voters’ freedom of expression is the way to go if we truly want to have a more gender-sensitive Parliament,” Farrugia said during a speech in Parliament. “If we want to ensure equality, then we shouldn’t give people special privileges, even temporarily. After all, positive discrimination is a form of discrimination in and of itself.

“If e want to breathe new life into Parliament, there are ways and means through which this can be done that don’t involve fiddling around with out electoral system.”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has repeatedly called for a temporary gender quota system to boost the dismal number of women MPs in the Maltese Parliament. On Monday, he said that he would be open to launching the system in the current legislature – adding more female MPs to the current Parliament as a “shock therapy” to the system.

“As it stands, half the population isn’t being represented in Parliament in terms of gender,” he said. “Some argue that women can get elected on their own steam as the current female MPs have or that women can vote for each other, but I believe these are simplistic arguments.”

However, in his speech – held during a debate on a motion held to reaffirm parliamentary procedures – Godfrey Farrugia said parliamentary sittings should be shifted from the evening to the afternoon as a family-friendly incentive.  

He added that he disagrees with the government’s proposal to remove parliamentary privilege, arguing that cases of abuse of privilege doesn’t mean that the entire concept is wrong.