The law is what it is!

Through my electoral agent, yesterday I submitted to the Electoral Commission a true statement of the expenses I?incurred, as a candidate, for the June 6 MEP elections.

In deciding to run for such an election, I promised myself that I would lose neither my integrity as a person, nor, as a lawyer, my respect for the law. A famous English writer once referred to the law as being an ass, and there are occasions when this does seem to be the case, with our electoral law on spending being a prime contender for one of the top positions were such a list ever to be compiled. That does not however give me the right to break it. On the other hand, my integrity would be severely damaged, possibly beyond repair, were I to glibly allow a false or untrue statement of expenses to tide me over this requirement.

Throughout the campaign, and even after the election, I have always stated that my expenses have been within the legal limit and this I still maintain, as evidenced by the sworn statement I submitted to that effect.

The law clearly states that the limit is on spending by a candidate and this beggars the question as to when does one become a candidate. Is it when one first thinks of running? Is it the whole five years of activities carried out by an incumbent? Is it when the party, obviously only where applicable, accepts the nomination?

While my intention to run for the elections had been known for some time, and the Nationalist Party had also accepted my name on its ticket, I only became a candidate the moment my nomination was submitted correctly to the Electoral Commission. The law is the law and does not work on assumptions or perceptions but only on facts. Therefore, when the reference throughout is to a "candidate", it is only referring to the person who has been nominated officially to the Electoral Commission. Hence, with this clear definition of the responsible person, the applicable period for the expenses to be declared is just as clearly defined, namely between May 4 and June 4, both dates included. I did not rest on this, my own, interpretation of the law but in the past months I have taken informal legal advice from various colleagues in the profession, including an eminent retired member of the judiciary, who all subscribed to this interpretation.

I have therefore submitted to the Electoral Commission a true statement of all the expenditure incurred by myself as a candidate in relation to the MEP elections. I had also spent more money prior to this period but this does not fall under any legal obligation vis-à-vis the Electoral Commission.

It does, however, fall under my personal obligation and commitment to honesty and transparency, always within adherence to the law. Therefore today, I am releasing to the public, through the media, a full statement of all my spending outside of the period when I was a candidate. I am also publicly declaring that every cent spent came out of my own pocket and that I received no donations in money or in kind from any sponsor, except for the support and help I got from my parents, my sisters and a group of very close friends, who gave me so much of their time.

There will be those who say that I am exploiting a loophole but the law is what it is and when it is an ass, as this one is, perhaps it needs to be made an ass of, without breaking it and without resorting to false declarations. The time has long been here for a revision of certain aspects of our electoral laws and procedures, which are archaic, unrealistic and based on mistrust.

I therefore end this article with an appeal to the relevant authorities to propose and enact the necessary amendments to the law in order to avoid unnecessary issues every time an election comes up. Democratic elections are all about having persons with integrity being elected to a Parliament whose job it is to make laws. Putting potential MPs or MEPs in such uncomfortable positions is not a good start to the process.