Rosanne Zammit
President likely to appoint temporary Opposition Leader
Labour Party deputy leader Charles Mangion is expected be sworn in as Opposition Leader for an interim period after Alfred Sant vacates the post this evening when MLP delegates vote to elect a new leader.
Dr Sant confirmed yesterday he would be resigning as Opposition Leader today. He stepped down as party leader the day after the March 8 election result.
Asked why he did not wait until a new Labour leader is elected, he said that tonight's election meant that the post of party leader would be filled. When it was pointed out that the election could continue tomorrow, if no one of the five contenders nets 50 per cent plus one of the votes, Dr Sant said that did not matter.
When Dr Mangion was asked whether he had been approached to be sworn in as Leader of the Opposition even if for an interim period, Dr Mangion said that, effectively, the ball was in the President's court.
The President, he said, had to act in line with the Constitution, which said that he would have to nominate a person who, in his opinion, enjoyed the majority support of opposition MPs.
Dr Mangion said that as he was acting leader of the party in this interim period in line with an agreement within the party's executive and parliamentary group, it was most likely that he would be approached to take over as Opposition Leader for the time being.
Dr Sant was also asked about the fact that the new party leader may not be a member of the House.
He said this was something that had to be resolved according to the Constitution.
Two of the five contestants for tonight's election - George Abela and Joseph Muscat - are not MPs.
Although there is the possibility that if one of them is elected leader, he would be co-opted to Parliament, Dr Abela has already declared he was not interested in becoming an MP at least until he got the party's house in order.
He had said when he launched his campaign that being a leader but not an MP was permitted both by the party's statute and by the Constitution.
Asked if it were possible for the Labour leader not to be the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Mangion said this was another point that had to be tackled once the leadership process was over.
Although the situation was hypothetical, one had to bear in mind that the party's deputy leader for parliamentary affairs was an MP and formed part of the party's leadership.
The situation, Dr Mangion said, was interesting constitutionally and since it was a new development it had to be approached cautiously in order to ensure that Parliament's work continued in the national interest and that the party's internal work proceeded according to the party's exigencies.
The Office of the President was asked what would happen following Dr Sant's resignation and until a new MLP leader was elected. It was also asked what would happen if the party's new leader was not an MP.
Its curt reply was: "With reference to your e-mail hereunder please note that: The Leader of the Opposition will be appointed according to article 90 of the Constitution".
This article says that:
"Whenever there shall be occasion for the appointment of a Leader of the Opposition, the President shall appoint - if there is one opposition party whose numerical strength in the House of Representatives is greater than the strength of any other opposition party, the member of the House of Representatives who is the leader of that party..."
It also stated that: "The office of Leader of the Opposition shall become vacant... if he ceases to be a member of the House otherwise than by a dissolution of Parliament".
Sources close to the Attorney General's Office said when asked whether the Leader of the Opposition could be a person who was not an MP, that they did not believe this was possible.
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Hubert Zammit
Jun 5th 2008, 17:13
To A.Farrugia: my comment was in NO WAY meant to defend Dr Sant. It is hard for me to defend anyone in the labour party, let alone Alfred Sant and I totally agree with your last statement that he should have never touched politics. My question was also in no way meant to undermine the constitution. I was just curious as to why all this importance given. You talked about "power vacuum", but what "power" does a Leader of the Opposition have in running the country?
Joe Grima
Jun 5th 2008, 16:21
Michael Debono. . You must be one of the gullible victims of Sant's "scripts", directed at those who opposed him -- from Mintoff downwards. Dr Sant's only legacy will be that of the pragmatist leader of Europe's only Socialist right-wing Party
I left the MLP of my own accord , wthout any regret. After Sant, the path that I chose was to examine and explain Sant's weird, erroneous policies, week after week, from the columns of the Independent On Sunday, hoping that the Party would make Sant change course. It did not and Dr.Sant slammed the MLP into the wall three times running. People like you now want to to exculpate your errant leader for his miserable failures by loading your own resentments onto someone else. It's too late. Finally Malta has seen through him.
Hope for the MLP begins tomorrow. The first clean-up the Party needs now is from this outdated, konowall, absolutist mentality like yours that also cost the Party the election. With the correct choice, the MLP will get it. Go for it Delegati!
A Farrugia
Jun 5th 2008, 13:40
Dear hubert Zammit, according to the Constitution if it means anything to you and your likes, there must be a PM and a Leader of the Opposition at all times, and not only when HE Alfred Sant wants to. May I remind you, that it was the same AS when way back in 1998 he lost the elections, he resigned from the office of PM there and then. Leaving behind him a power vacuum. And the President of Malta UMB had to call in the leader of the PN at night to swear him in as PM, because in a state, you cannot leave a power vacuum even if we're tiny malta. And once again, HE Alfred Sant opted to play the power of incumbency with his own party. So much for a demo like AS. He should have never touched politics.
Michael Debono
Jun 5th 2008, 13:40
Mr.J.Grima. What's your interest in the Labour Party. Haven't you chosen another path in politics. Happily Dr A Sant cleaned the party from undesirable elements.
There are who resented it, but good riddance to bad rubbish. May it remain so.
Hubert Zammit
Jun 5th 2008, 12:26
I really can't understand what this fuss is all about. Its not like the opposition leader runs the country. So what if no one is opposition leader for 24 hours?
Joe Grima
Jun 5th 2008, 10:50
Malta's major mixed-up kid gas now regaled us with his resignation from Leader of the Opposition. Can anyone tell me why he did not also resign as Leader of the Opposition on the day and at the same time that he resigned as Leader of the MLP? What is so different today? Nothing at all. The conditions are still the same and the same person who will be chosen to lead the Opposition temporarily now will have been the the same person to be chosen on the day that Sant resigned as Leader of the MLP had he also resigned from his post as Leader of the Opposition. . These are the poltics of confusion which, among other gaffes and divisive issues , lost people's confidence in the MLP. The new leader will have an uphill climb to restore people's faith in the Party , internally dismemebered and with a machiavellian PN leadership showing an incredibile abilty to to influence events even to the extent of manipulating the most sacred event in a Party's history, the choice of Leader .