In a matter of days, the Nationalist and Labour MPs discussed and approved the latest constitutional amendments to the Maltese electoral system. What a feat: discussion was over in a few hours and, of course, the amendments were unanimously approved. Amazing: it takes years to agree on constitutional amendments but, when it is a matter of consolidating the MLP/PN duopoly in Parliament - at the expense of any third party the people would like to see in Parliament - the whole issue is wrapped up in a matter of hours.
What do the new constitutional changes consist of? Three major points: Gozo will be considered as a whole district; when candidates from only two political parties are elected but one of the parties is under-represented, extra seats will be credited to reflect its first count votes; when candidates from more than two parties are elected and one of the parties has an absolute majority of votes but is under-represented, it will be credited extra seats to reflect its votes.
As regards the third point, there should be no discussion. It is normal democratic practice that if the people give a fifty per cent plus one absolute majority to a single party, that party should have an absolute majority of seats.
The behaviour of the two main parties becomes scandalous when they toy about with the Constitution with the only intention of satisfying their greed. Of course, we all agree that Gozo should be treated as one district, without detaching Ghajnsielem and joining it to Mellieha and its district. This is normal logic and common sense.
What is not logical is the way the PN and the MLP have gone about this issue. Considering that Gozo's population is now above the national district average, the logical consequence would have been to add a seat or two to the Gozo constituency to reflect the higher number of voters in that district.
Instead, logic has been turned on its head: Gozo has been declared one electoral district (and that is fine) but maintaining five seats with more people who are eligible to vote. Although this means that six seats should be attributed to Gozo, Lawrence Gonzi and Alfred Sant have decided to sacrifice the Gozitans' right to satisfy their craving for power... and therefore Gozitans will only get five seats instead of the six they should have.
After having offended all Gozitans with this amendment, Dr Gonzi and Dr Sant proceed to treat all the Maltese like dirt by creating special conditions and special offers exclusively for their two parties.
The basic principle behind the second major change to the Constitution is that the number of seats for each party should strictly reflect the number of votes it gets at the national level. Therefore, there should be strict proportionality in the allocation of seats on the basis of first count votes. Of course, nobody in their right senses could disagree with this: it is the essence of democracy that parliamentary seats should reflect proportionately the number of votes obtained by each party.
But here lies the arrogance of the Sant - Gonzi duo: they are applying strict proportionality between parliamentary seats and votes obtained only to their two parties.
In a normal democracy, if, for example, out of a total of 250,000 votes cast, the PN gets 110,000 votes it should get 28 seats; if MLP obtains 100,000 votes, then it should get 26 seats and if Alternattiva Demokratika gets 40,000 votes then it should get 11 seats. Instead, the two "democratic" parties have basically entrenched in our Constitution the principle that if, for example, out of a total of 250,000 votes cast, the PN obtains 110,000 votes, it gets 34 seats, if the MLP gets 100,000 votes, it should have 31 seats, and if AD obtains 40,000 votes nationally, it gets no seats at all!
Having said all this, now is the time for all Maltese and Gozitans to teach these arrogant people a lesson. The Gonzi - Sant agreement in Parliament is a clear sign of their detachment from the people and of their fear of losing votes. To prevent the haemorrhage, they have tried to ensure that only MLP and PN can enter Parliament.
But we Maltese can beat the system. What we need are 2,500 first count votes for Alternattiva Demokratika in one of the 13 electoral districts. It is difficult, but not impossible. All you need is the courage to believe in yourselves and to vote No. 1 for AD. Almost 23,000 people did so in the 2004 European Parliament elections. There are many of us all over Malta and Gozo. Let us show this on election day. With AD in Parliament, we will certainly turn a new leaf in the democratic history of our country.
Arnold Cassola, a Maltese Green MP in the Italian Parliament and former secretary-general of the European Green Party, was elected in the European constituency in Prime Minister Romano Prodi's list in the April 2006 general election.
arnoldcassola@gmail.com