MLP wants "balanced" electoral commission

The Labour Party's deputy leader for party affairs, Michael Falzon, yesterday said it was essential that the next electoral commission would be "balanced", in view of its task of reviewing the electoral boundaries.

Speaking on a Super One Radio programme, Mr Falzon said the MLP wanted the way districts were drawn up to reflect voting intentions as closely as possible. The party wanted "confusion and irregularities" to come to an end, so as to avoid a repetition of the 1996, 1998 and 2003 election results.

The Nationalist Party had a five-seat majority in parliament, which was not reflected in the first-count votes.

"The ball is now in the prime minister's court. From his talk of consensus, he should now move to action," said Mr Falzon.

The deputy leader also spoke about the "assemblies" organised at the Labour Party over the last few weeks, saying that about 1,000 party members had taken part.

The participants had set their own agenda and had been free to express their opinions, which would be given their due importance.