AD seeks national threshold for elections
Alternattiva Demokratika said today that it is proposing changes to the electoral system which include the introduction of a national threshold so that representation in Parliament would be as proportional as possible to the first count votes cast for the parties.
Arnold Cassola, party chairman, said the system that was being proposed was based more or less on the German system, with a district quota of 16.6% that would allow an individual to be elected on her/his own steam, and a national quota.
The party explained that when the allocation of seats needed to be adjusted to reflect proportionality, the national quota would be 2.5% of first count votes. Candidates could thus be elected either on the basis of the district quota or if the votes given to their party exceeded the national quota.
The party is also proposing that the transfer of votes between parties should not be considered in casual elections, removing the remote possibility of parties winning or losing seats as a result of casual elections.
Carmel Cacopardo, Alternattiva Demokratika spokesman on Sustainable Development and Local Councils, stressed that the main aim of the Alternattiva Demokratika proposals was to bring about the necessary balance between a fair democratic representation of the voters' intentions and functional governability of the country.
The electoral system is one of the subjects currently being discussed by a Parliamentary Select Commitee appointed just before Parliament rose for the summer recess.
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Ramon Casha
Sep 18th 2008, 06:57
@Sergio:
Oh I'm well aware there are worse situations in some other places, but that's not a good reason not to improve our own. The current situation is that you can elect any candidate as long as it's from PN or MLP - not the most democratic of situations. Stability is nice, but it's not the highest aim, otherwise we might as well just go for a dictatorship. Besides, many governments are coalitions and they're very stable.
Malcolm Seychell
Sep 17th 2008, 23:06
I think 2.5% is fair.
If a small party is elected in parliament it is good for our democracy.
It is up to Dr Gonzi or Dr Muscat to show that they can work with other parties. .
A good leader should not be afraid of other parties.
L Galea
Sep 17th 2008, 15:46
Re flying pigs and their history, have a look at http://www.fpqrp.com/pighist.htm
Dr. John Zammit
Sep 17th 2008, 15:45
The Alleanza Liberal-Demokratika Malta - www.malta-liberals.org - totally agrees with Alternattiva Demokratika for a national threshold of 2.5% of first count votes and hope that the government will impliment this immediately to have a truely democratic country and the small parties will have their share in the Maltese Parliament, especially the Alternattiva Demokratika who represent the greens in the European Parliament and us who represent the ALDE/ELDR (Liberals) the third largest political group. The Maltese Parliament should resemble the European Parliament and not continue with the old parties doing what they like and bringing frustration as the saying in Maltese says "jew nejja jew mahruqa" we are fad up of this system.
Alex Tanti
Sep 17th 2008, 15:27
Rightly said Mr. Grima.
Timing is ripe for the 'Flimkien Kollox Possibbli' to be put in place.
GonziPN and proactive Labour Mifsud ought to walk to talk now.
Full support for Dr. Cassola and co.
L Galea
Sep 17th 2008, 15:23
Who wants to end up like Italy with an election every year?
With due respect, do you remember Toni Pellegrini with his "Iċ-ċavetta f'idejna" and Ganado etc. etc. under the Church umbrella in the 1960's?
They were all relegated to the annals of history.
History usually repeats itself, the difference this time being that AD had never succeeded and will never succeed in electing an MP.
J. Borg
Sep 17th 2008, 15:20
Mr Galea Vincenti
'a coalition government - with all its advantages and more obvious disadvantages'
what are these more obvious disadv?
Having a govt made up of PN & MLP ministers? I wonder what Net and Super1, not to mention the DOI, will come up with in such case.
If any 'small' party in a coalition govt. goes beyond what is reasonable, the same party will shed it's own votes and/or the 'major' party will gain sympathy votes.
Maybe finally the 'accountability' so popular in politicians' public statements will start being implemented throughout.
The major parties have been abusing of the electoral law and devising unholy stratagems for too long now - the more proportionate the system works the better and the less we have of what the PN terms as 'wasted votes' (effectively sabotaged votes).
Mark Grima
Sep 17th 2008, 15:01
These are excellent proposals and should be supported by all those who wish to see a fully articulated democratic system in Malta. The timing of the proposals makes sense also, i.e. as far as possible away from a general election. As a green / liberal, I have no ambition to run the country, but I do resent being denied a voice (albeit tiny) in parliament.
The argument that this sort of system is a threat to our "stability" is unfair. To what extent is it a third party's fault that the PN-MLP only ever beat each other by a sliver, and hence view third parties as equivalent to terrorist organisations? Furthermore, those who buy into the "governability / stability" argument are under the mistaken impression that Malta is run like a well-oiled machine and would grind to a halt if the MLP or PN did not have exclusive, total, and unchallenged control.
On a final pessimistic note; we are more likely to see pigs soaring and swooping over Valletta than the PN-MLP gving a second's consideration to any threat to their winner-takes-all game.
Sergio Galea Vincenti
Sep 17th 2008, 14:54
Ramon: One can argue for all eternity on what really constitutes a 'democracy'. If one examines the various ways people elect their representatives in different countries, one can find a bit of everything from the extreme of having a single candidate's name on the ballot to situations where you have a million parties being elected in lower and higher chambers.
And what can we say about the democratic value of a simple 'vote' cast by a non-majority as is happening in so many countries? At least here - with all our perceived and real failings - we have close to universal suffrage.
One has to see the local context in the light of what we look for in parliament and our representatives. I believe that before we do so we won't really be in a position to draw up a suitable solution. This can only come as a result of a constituent assembly which would be the first post-Independence whose role would act to review not just elections but review the Constitution and the role of our institutions in the light of a Malta which now forms part of the EU.
Ramon Casha
Sep 17th 2008, 14:39
@Sergio:
It's called democracy, and for all its occasional flaws, it's a sight better than any other system that's ever been attempted.
The two large parties' attempts to prevent people from electing their chosen candidates to parliament, democracy is under threat. At present Malta is a quasi-democratic country.
Sergio Galea Vincenti
Sep 17th 2008, 14:23
I can understand where AD is coming from but here, in Malta, we have to consider that we have to balance the argument of a national threshold with the stability of any eventually elected government.
One seat in our parliament represents approximately 1.5% of the electorate. Having a threshold set at the low figure of 2.5% would almost certainly guarantee the need to have a coalition government - with all its advantages and more obvious disadvantages.
Indeed, it can be argued that too low a threshold can shift the power into fewer hands as an eventual third party may use its position to wrangle support to policies which have attracted just a fraction of the electorate.
One of the definitions of politics is that it is the art of negotiation. I think that the issue needs to be debated bearing closely in mind the fact that the two-party duopoly which has governed Malta until now needs to be reviewed in the light of the challenges Malta has to face over the coming years.
Ultimately, it's not just a question of seats that matters but how the needs and aspirations of the people are translated into actions by politicians and institutions.