Political parties talk but agree not to speak

Political parties yesterday agreed to keep their mouths shut about discussions they embarked upon with the aim of making changes to the electoral system.

All three party secretary generals said, when contacted yesterday, they had agreed not to comment at this stage so as not to prejudice the discussions.

The talks, being held between Joe Saliba (Nationalist Party), Jason Micallef (Labour Party) and Stephen Cachia (Alternattiva Demokratika), are expected to centre on ensuring better proportionality in the parties' representation in Parliament in relation to the number of votes they win.

One of the points to be discussed is the question of the size of electoral boundaries. The electoral law lays down that no district should contain plus or minus five per cent of the average number of eligible voters in all districts. But, as things stand, six districts - the first, fifth, sixth, ninth, 12th, and 13th - exceed this threshold.

If the electoral law remains unchanged, or unless the necessary arrangements are made to consider the 13th district, Gozo, as a region rather than a district, the sister island of Malta would have to be split up.

Districts are not changed by the parties but by the Electoral Commission.

The electoral law was first changed just before the 1987 general election to avoid a repetition of the 1981 electoral result when the PN was denied an absolute parliamentary majority in spite of winning an absolute majority of popular votes.

Through the amendment, it was ensured that the party obtaining an absolute majority of votes would be entitled to an absolute majority of parliamentary seats.

Another constitutional amendment was agreed to before the 1996 election, guaranteeing an absolute majority of seats for the party receiving a relative majority of votes in the event of only two parties being represented in Parliament.

However, the 1996-98 Labour government enjoyed only a one-seat majority although winning the 1996 election with a majority of 7,600 votes. The MLP has often complained it should have been entitled to a larger parliamentary majority.

In the 1998 general election, the Nationalist government had five parliamentary seats more than Labour when it had polled a majority of 12,800 votes.

The talks are to continue after Easter.