I refer to the letters entitled Coalition Governments by Albert Giglio (August 5) and Political History And Coalitions by Alex Camilleri (August 15). I am concerned about the number of historical inaccuracies that are presented as facts.
With regard to the period 1947-1955, referred to by Mr Giglio, we had one majority government, two minority governments and two coalition governments. A majority Labour government led by Paul Boffa came to power in November 1947 and lasted until October 1949 when, following an acrimonious party split, Dr Boffa was removed as party leader by the Labour Party's general conference. Dr Boffa refused to resign as Prime Minister and with the backing of 14 other Labour MPs he continued to lead a minority government until defeated on June 6, 1950 on the motion for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of Supply with regard to the general estimates for 1950-1951.
A general election was held on September 2, 3 and 4. It was contested by the PN which won 12 seats, the MLP (11 seats), the Boffa Labour Group - later MWP - (11 seats), the Constitutional Party (four seats), the Democratic Action Party (one seat) and the Jones Party (no seats). One other seat was won by G. Cauchi, an independent candidate from Gozo. The Governor gave Enrico Mizzi, as the leader of the largest parliamentary group, the mandate to form a government.
Mr Camilleri claims, inaccurately, that Dr Mizzi "bizarrely chose not to enter into a coalition". What actually happened was that the CP immediately showed their unwillingness to join a coalition led by Dr Mizzi. Dr Mizzi sounded both the BLG and the MLP on the possibility of forming a coalition and meetings were held between the respective delegations.
The basis for an agreement was signed by a PN delegation led by Dr Mizzi and an MLP delegation led by Mr Mintoff but was later repudiated by Mr Mintoff. On his part Dr Boffa was unwilling to enter a coalition with Dr Mizzi. This left Dr Mizzi with no alternative but to form a minority government. That government lasted from September 1950 until February 1951 when the administration was defeated. Dr Mizzi died unexpectedly on December 20, 1950, and was succeeded by George Borg Olivier as leader of the PN and Prime Minister. Another general election was held on May 5, 6 and 7, 1951 and was contested by the PN (15 seats), the MLP (14 seats), the MWP (seven seats) and the CP (four seats). A coalition government was formed between the PN and the MWP with Dr Borg Olivier as Prime Minister.
This lasted until October 1953 when Dr Borg Olivier advised the Governor to dissolve Parliament following the government's defeat on the financial estimates. The government's defeat had nothing to do with "Dr Borg Olivier's request for quasi-dominion status" as claimed by Mr Camilleri. The coalition collapsed because of disenchantment among certain Nationalist MPs brought about by the ongoing attempts by members of the MWP to fuse the party with the MLP and Dr Borg Olivier's administrative inadequacies. So much so that four coalition members, three Nationalist and one of the Workers Party, voted against the government.
The general election held on December 12, 13 and 14, 1953 was contested by the MLP (19 seats), the PN (18 seats), the MWP (three seats) and the CP (no seats). Another PN-MWP coalition was formed and lasted until November 1954 when the resignation of Minister John Cole (MWP), who was in favour of the British Government's offer to transfer Maltese affairs to the Home Office, followed by his resignation from the MWP and withdrawal of his support for the government prior to his rejoining the MLP, caused the administration's defeat.
Mr Camilleri correctly points out that Mr Giglio's claim that a two-party system was established in 1962 is erroneous. However, while Mr Camilleri is correct in stating that two-party representation in Parliament dates from 1966 it is important to make clear that this was not due to the electorate not having numerous opportunities to widen its representation. Between 1966 and 2003 nine general elections were held in Malta. Only the 1976 and the 1981 general elections were contested solely by two parties clearly indicating that, for better or worse, the electorate consistently rejected the opportunity to have more than two parties represented in Parliament.