Wine to clear the mind

The House of Representatives rose for the summer with the usual good wishes from both sides to each other, the Speaker to them, and the triangle to the Maltese people. That came after another usual bit of style there - total disagreement. Who knows whether the Honourable Ladies and Gentlemen would care to mix the two basic ingredients to try to produce a summer wine of a type that would really be for the good of the people, as well as including a remarkable instant maturity that has been overdue for years?

More than an opportunity there is a very serious need for this particular brew, evidenced by the continuing inbuilt imperfections in our electoral system. The latest House disagreement came over amendments to the electoral process - how elections are conducted. The disenchanted observer might say that the two sides could have moved much more towards each other, for instance over who should retain the right to vote though on paid or voluntary work abroad. The proposed qualification that such persons should be paying tax and making social security contributions in Malta was not absurd.

The concept could have been covered by defining such persons as still being under the Maltese tax and social security system. That would cover those who, under the strict provisions of our laws, would be exempted from paying tax, or allowed to pay it up to a specified limit, and who are required to pay social security contributions abroad but which do count for domestic purposes under our own provisions. This time round that is water under the bridge. The tens, scores or hundreds of temporarily disfranchised individuals because of very long-standing residence requirements to be included in the electoral register, will feel aggrieved.

There is one long-running gap which not only grieves but also threatens the whole electorate. And that, as has been observed so many times by so many people including this columnist, is a time-bomb that ticks away incessantly, ready to explode in every general election, with the shockwaves continuing to spread thereafter. It is shaped by the fact that our electoral system does not guarantee as nearly strict proportionality as can be.

The proportion of seats resulting to a party or otherwise identifiable group of candidates may fall short of the proportion of valid votes shown in the preferences of the voters. This has led to a perfectly legal but perverse result in 1987. Prior to that the same thing had almost happened in 1971. Though subsequently some sense descended on both sides of the House of Representatives, translating into constitutional amendments that guarantee 1987 will not be repeated, the system remains imperfect.

It is manifestly so with regard to small parties or groupings, as Alternattiva Demokratika incessantly reminds all and sundry. It is so too concerning the main parties. The latest example was in 1998 when stricter proportionality would have given Labour another seat at the expense of the Nationalists.

Almost four years into the legislature, and with so much negative experience behind us, the imperfections in the electoral system are left to persist. They could easily lead to fresh imbalance in the forthcoming general election - another bomb exploding, whose waves will be in the form of claims by the disadvantaged side that it has been cheated. The democratic process could do without such unnecessary strains.

The prime minister said before the House rose for the summer that he was prepared to hold fresh talks on amendments that would bring about stricter proportionality. The opposition has not as yet reacted. It is in the interest of both sides - certainly of the people as a whole - to find a way forward, to agree on amendments that can be put to the House when it reconvenes after the last of the summer wine. Various efforts have been made in the past, and failed.

A fresh sensible attempt should start with a removal of blocking mindsets. The first step should be recognition that, as in the case of the two amendments agreed upon since 1987, only the first preferences stated by the electorate in the voting lists will be the basis of the exercise. If that does not happen, the premier's invitation to tango will not ring very earnest.