Opposition proposes case-by-case pairing arrangement

Ihad a little chuckle reading some of the comments below .Is it not amazing that there are those who not so long ago were going about with the attitude of "I am holier then thee" and that they know better. Suddenly they are all for the Goverment to work better and for the opposition to co -operate with the Govt., with the silly idea of having an elected MLP member as speaker thus depriving it of the numbers. My feeling is that the oppostion should be sitting on the fence and let the goverment flounder which should be fairly soon, and for those floating voters who voted for the conservatives to reconsider their votes the next timeround BECAUSE Malta needs a Labour goverment at the helm.

Just thinking aloud, perhaps laterally ...

If, as someone believes, Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orland is the most powerful man at the moment in that he seems to be a potential threat to the life expectancy of the government, can someone explain - in simple words, devoid of any patina of depth - why this proposal would not work?

JPO is 'promoted' and appointed Speaker of the House. In return he vacates his seat on the Government benches. Another Nationalist MP is co-opted to take his place, thereby retaining the 35 - 34 situation. However, as Speaker of the House, JPO would be bound by Erskine May to vote 'for' a motion, should a vote end in a 'draw'.

Would this not put paid to the pairing controversy? :

Dr.Licari, I read somewhere else that you are an ex-nationalist. What exactly made you cross floors?

That parliament work would be easier for the PN in government should a pairing agreement be entered into by both parties goes without saying. However, it is not a necessity. It will surely cause a couple of headaches to the Government whip, but it will not bring down the Nationalist government as most labour supporters are being led to believe.

The next general election will be held in 2013, pairing or no pairing.

Mr. Hill must not have travelled extensively since his days as a steward with BEA in the 60's. He should try BA - an airline which I used exclusively over the last thirty years or so. I saw its service deteriorate and descend into mediocrity, with a dash of snobbery. I now travel Lufthansa whose service, ease of connections and courtesy are much better than BA's.
On the other hand I have seen Air Malta's service improve steadily and although most flights I take with them are the shorter two and a half hour variety, I find the cabin service to be quite good and generally pleasant. Of course, for a relatively short flight, I do not expect smoked salmon and caviar and fillet mignon - for luxury meals I prefer a good restaurant on terra ferma.

Oh! My goodness, Dr. Licari is back fanning a small spark hoping that it will turn into a raging fire. Dr. Licari et al, forget that "pairing" is a gentlemen's agreement between government and Opposition and is practiced the world over.
The election is over and we have a government and an opposition and the latter proposal for a temporary case by case consideration until a new leader of the Opposition is elected is understandable and the way I read it, does not constitute a refusal.
As opposed to what one writer stated, the Opposition does have a leader who at this time is Dr. Sant and who will be succeeded on June 5. However, having said that, if the Opposition aims at defeating the government at an early opportunity, I would like to remind Dr. Licari and others that the MLP would be ill prepared for a quick election.

A negative response to the NP pairing proposal would underscore the fact that losing by a slim margin is still bothering them so much that they forget that the last thing the electorate wants is another election any time soon. If the MLP precipitates the country into another early election, maybe the 29,000 who did not pick up their voting documents last time, will do so with a vengeance next time.

It is a gamble which the MLP with a new leader and with so much internal turmoil can least afford

Dear 'nazzjonalisti' .... what goes around comes around! Remember 1998??

What do the PN think that the MLP are stupid? yes we want the speaker but it should be from outside the parlament too!! or else no deal

What is pairing, it is done only if a MP from the government is away on work (not personal) or sick.
What are you saying is if the two parties agreed on pairing, and for example as Mintoff had done voted against his government a MP from the opposition has to absent from voting, I think it does not work like that.

@ Saviour Cachia
"PN please note, we do not need no education." No offence, but judging on this sentence and the numerous mistakes in the others that you wrote, it might just be necessary.

@ Adrian Cardona
In the case whereby there is an equal number of votes on either side (so, for example, Parliament votes 34-34 for a proposal), then in order to not bring down the government, it is the government's proposal that passes nonetheless. This was what happened in 1996-1998 when Dom Mintoff was abstaining from voting in Parliament; the speaker would pass proposals being offered, at the time, by the MLP.

In brief, the only way government can be 'overthrown' is when there is a vote of no confidence, i.e. when the majority of the House does not support the way how the PM is running the country. Constitutionally, it's obviously a bit more complicated than that.

There was a pairing agrrement in the 1996-98 MLP govt. but since Labour didn't give a damn on Dr. Fenech Adami's health when he had to go to parlament to vote (against doctors' orders) then PN rightly so rejected any pairings.

A number of arguments are being raised in this discussion and I am glad that it is a civilised one - unlike the personal insults one sees elsewhere by people claiming to be Christians.

Pairing is now being given more importance than formerly for the simple reason that the government does not feel comfortable with its one-MP majority representing about 1500 voters or less than one quota. Obviously, if the government could increase its majority by offering the "concession" of an opposition MP speaker, it would solve a number of headaches - for the government.

We all know that Dr JPO was energetically defended by his party before the election and kindly invited to make himself more rare after the election. Dr JPO is a strong, intelligent and determined man - as I realised by the correspondence I had with him not so long ago. [My discussion with JPO was about human rights and tourism] Nobody can push him around - and this worries the government. Indeed one can safely say that Dr JPO is holding the PM by the, er, bunions and can really ask for anything: ministerial position etc. He is at present the most powerful man in Malta.

Also one cannot forget that, for a long time, Mr John Dalli was not treated with the utmost sensitivity by his party. Such things are not easy to forget. There is no doubt that he also has leadership qualities. Has he completely abandoned his desire to be PN leader?

There are also some ex-Ministers and other Nat MPs who did well in the election but were either ignored or shown the door by an insensitive sms. \i do not believe that they must be jumping for joy.

There is absolutely no doubt that government needs a pairing agreement. At the same time many Labourites, representing almost half the population, often complain that there has been against them a kind of socio-political apartheid. I would say that some mature bargaining would solve this irritating problem.

It will be suicidal to any political party to accept that a pairing arrangement will appear to be a permanent feature in the Orders of the House. Non-Voting or even abseentism is a right enjoyed by every member of parliament who is elected to the House on his own behalf and not in the name of a political party. Moreover, not even today's pairing arrangements are sanctioned by the Standing Orders. You'll find them nowhere written down and they always were agreed upon between opposing parties. In fact, as what happening during the 1996-98 legislature, the pairing arrangement was withdrawn by the Nationalist Opposition at the first opportune moment for them when Labour's downfall was in sight.

The Labour Opposition should never throw away this weapon. And the Labour Party should use this weapon wisely and get what it wants from the Government. Not the Speaker, nor the President of the Republic. Labour should get the government agree to reform State Broadcasting once and for all and not allowing private contractors to take it over in an electoral campaign. And Labour should get the government to legislate that using the Power of Incumbency as it was used in the last election, with MEPA dishing out ODZ permits in the dozens, will be rendered a Corrupt Practice and punishable by law.

Wow.....what a short memory you have.....there was no pairing agreement when the Labour was in government for 22 months in the 1996 - 1998 period. Why should things change now. You harvest what you reap.

Well done to the Labour parliamentary group. You acted with full responsibility and fair enough that the PN Government should take notice of the fact that a new Opposition leader has still to be named.
Hope, Gonzipn will be more careful in its attitude and will not be as intransigent as it was in the case of joining the Partnership for Peace without any consultation with the Opposition.
Let us consider one thing. At the moment tha Gonzipn is enjoying full laurels for having built around its fort a close and disciplined strategy to manage to regain power at all cost. The Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando case is a classic one, which as yet one cannot predict the consequences, though I am not narrow-minded and will never envisage that JPO will ever vote with the Opposition in any vote of confidence in the Nationalist Government.
Finally: in my opinion this issue of pairing should be settle once and for all. All it takes, (and a I stand to be corrected) is a rather permanent change in the procedure covering the running of the House of Representative, that pairing will be mandatory, no matter the election results and who will be governing the islands. I vouch for a stable government and a stable running of the House of Representatives.
Am I being drastic, radical or perhaps day-dreaming? I do not think so. In all humbleness, I rather think that in the national interest, it would ease matters for the smooth running of the House of Representatives. Is not my opinion, perhaps, a really new way of doing politics?
But for the moment let us stick to what we have till now, and then once the leader of the Opposition is elected, review all and do all the changes needed for starting to live as one nation.
One last observation: we labourites are rather awed by the unity and compactibility in the National Party camp, but how would have been the position if the PN were defeated in the polls? Would not perhaps John Dalli and all try to upset the PN applecart and the beaming Lawrence Gonzi will instead be now showing a gloomy face?
Pn please note, we do not need no education. We Reds known how to do our things and certainly we are a more open and democratically based party than the you (PN).
I am as moderate and progressive, as much as I can be militant.

In my opinion the P.N. are masters in parliamentary affairs when in opposition. The MLP ought therefore to thank Gonzipn for the free tuition and demonstrate that it has learned the lessons. The MLP does not suffer from inferiority complex. Gonzipn during the election campaign did not cease to denigrate the MLP and particularly its leader. He spread so much malevolent, vicious, poisonous fear and lies that being an ostensible practicing Catholic who preaches by example, he should now humbly accept in conscious to suffer the consequences. This will prevent him from passing a period in purgatory. I am sure that there are hundreds of good women who will accept to pray for him for this purpose. He has only to ask.

Fascinating how the "intellectuals" with anti-PN sympathies jerk their knees towards confrontation even when the MLP itself makes overtures towards being less unreasonable than both parties have been in the past, albeit in differing circumstances.

It's also fascinating how statements of the obvious take on a patina of depth when mouthed by certain people. Nice phrase, that, "patina of depth", you must admit.

Am I alone in wondering whether it wouldn't be such a bad thing if our Onorevli were to have less time in the House to get up to mischief with their law-making? That's quite a hefty statute book we have already, so a bit of restraint might make our lives less complex.

Anyone remember the 1996 MLP government? little did the Nationalists help the Labour Party to deliver its work program for 5 years. I'm not saying two wrongs make a right, but not giving the pairing agreement will serve to keep the government on tiptoes. I remember Austin Gatt saying that his government has a majority of 5, and doesn't need to bring matters before the House since its obvious that they will pass. It's time to trim some of this arrogance.

This paring thing can be addressed by the Government once and for all. All sittings are to take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings when there are no meetings in Brussels and thus all Ministers are in Malta. I am sure the opposition will give up and will agree on pairing when they will know they have to attend a Parliamentary sitting on a Saturday morning.

so according to Dr.Licari the government should put a Labour MP as speaker, and pair on a case-by-case basis. The very first time a PN MP is missing and the speaker uses his casting vote, the government falls. No wonder it is such an attractive proposition for Dr.Licari...

It seems that is is Mr Petrococchini who needs to do some "remembering".

He needs to remember (or learn) that between 1996 and 1998, the Nationalist opposition did not agree to any pairing arrangements with the Labour Government.

The last election was won by 1500 votes by the PN. Analysing this result shows that whilst the Maltese believe that a PN government can do better then a labour government they are also indicating with their vote that they do want an opposition that s active and does not let the government do with ease anything he feels like.



For the above reason I do not believe in a pairing agreement.



All MP’s are being paid by our taxes and all MP’s need to be doing their jobs. Meaning attend to parliamentary sessions.



The government has to work according to the electorate mandate no more and no less.

I am not so sure about that...Recent history shows that the Nationalists never lost an opportunity to bring down the government during the 1998 crisis. I believe I saw this in someone's memoirs lately...not a labourite.

Surely if the opposition are eyeing the next government as being their own, they should desist from ''selling'' their pairing chips in favour of this and that as next time round they too will find themselves in this predicament. Pairing should be used by both sides to get on with the work in hand. Nats, please remember this too in 5 years time!

There is another aspect to this matter. In Malta there is not much national consensus about anything. The government and some journalists, however, have been repeating that we must not have a weak opposition. If the opposition agrees to increase the parliamentary difference to TWO members instead of ONE, it would be weakening itself thus displeasing the government and many ladies and gentlemen writing in the media.

Obviously some kind of compromise has to be reached between government and opposition re pairing if parliament has to function normally. Probably the last compromise the opposition would be ready to accept is for parliament to have as speaker a Labour elected MP. This would reduce the opposition's bargaining power by increasing the seat difference from one to two. Obviously the wafer-thin majority we often hear about would become more comfortable for government. I don't believe that the opposition wishes to give presents to the government thereby weakening itself.