Malta needs a national unified government

We would like to raise an old issue which we feel that people of our age (late 70s) have become impatient with, as we wait to see Malta evolve in its governance. We do not claim any originality in these thoughts but would like to see an open and rational dialogue.

The population of these blessed islands has been divided and polarised almost in half for the past 50 years, thanks to our elected leaders.

This division has expressed itself in two political parties, extreme in the opposition of opinions and sympathies and, like oil and water, phobic to each other. Rather than breaking our structure, it seems to unite us in mutual hatred and feeds each party so that they become stronger institutions acquiring a permanent status. The disastrous outcome of this policy brings stagnation to our advancement and loss of potential progress in a modern world to the detriment of the Maltese populace.

The democratic process dictates that a majority rules but it does not state by how much a significant difference counts. To govern a country for five years surely requires a greater majority than of one vote, one per cent of votes or an arbitrary percentage, smaller than the random error present in any electoral process. Half the population is made impotent and subject to the will of the other half (plus a small percentage) for the period the governing party is in power.

Some progress has already been made when the majority of voters replaced the number of seats. A solution out of this impasse would probably need a change in the Constitution to give power to govern to the party with a majority greater than a certain minimum number of points (say, four per cent). If this number is not achieved, a national government (coalition) will be formed with a Cabinet made up equally from both sides and the Prime Minister designated from the side achieving the greater number of votes.

Such a giant step would be the beginning of smoothening out the rough edges of both sides and bring some kind of harmony in our midst, creating a better ambience for our people to move forward.