Next candidate in line will take sixth seat

Should Malta be granted a sixth seat in the European Parliament, it would be taken up by the first runner-up in the June 6 elections.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told The Times yesterday that the unelected candidate with the largest number of votes at the last count will be declared Malta's sixth MEP.

"If and when the Lisbon Treaty provision allocating Malta the sixth seat comes into effect, then the remaining unelected candidate in the June 6 EP elections should be declared elected to the sixth seat," he said.

In what could be considered as a direct message to the disgruntled PN voters, Dr Gonzi added: "Electors participating at the June 6 election therefore need to keep this in mind since the same low participation rate by PN voters as happened in 2004 would most likely give Labour four of the six Maltese seats in the EU Parliament."

The Prime Minister's declaration brings to an end speculation about how the sixth seat would be filled if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified in October. This solution is acceptable to all three mainstream parties.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat said the PL agreed that the next in line should be assigned the sixth seat in the European Parliament, independently of the party he came from.

Similarly, Alternattiva Demokratika deputy chairman Stephen Cachia said that in fully functioning democracies there was only one acceptable way in which the seat should be attributed - following the Single Transferable Vote system.

He said it was acceptable that the sixth seat should be filled by the candidate who obtained the highest amount of votes on the last count, following the first five elected candidates. Any distortion of such a basic democratic principle would have been a travesty of democracy, Mr Cachia said.