Divorce referendum possible by April

A divorce referendum could be held as early as April and before Parliament discusses the Bill presented last year in the likely event that a proposal made by the Labour Party yesterday is accepted.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat ironically spent Valentine’s Day preparing and tabling a motion in Parliament to hold a consultative referendum on divorce. Together with the “unanimous” backing of his parliamentary group he even suggested a timetable and a referendum question based on the main points of the Bill moved by Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Labour MP Evarist Bartolo.

Pre-empting the PL move, Prime Minister and Nationalist Party leader Lawrence Gonzi issued a statement before Dr Muscat had the chance to officially announce the party’s motion, news of which had already reached the press.

In the statement, Dr Gonzi said his position in favour of a referendum as could be proposed by Labour was “consistent” with his belief that this decision should be taken by the electorate. On the other hand, he added, Dr Muscat had, in 2008, spoken against the holding of a referendum, labelling it as a sign of “failure of leadership”.

Dr Muscat said his comments were being taken out of context because he had made them at a time when he promised to raise the divorce issue himself after gaining the public’s confidence in a general election.

“The situation has developed differently and we are facing this situation,” he said, as PN journalists asked whether this was a similar U-turn to the one he was accusing Dr Gonzi of having made.

Dr Muscat had jokingly said: “We have a magazine called Malta 360˚. Today we had Gonzi 360˚,” referring to the fact that Dr Gonzi had gone back to his original statement that the public should decide the issue not the 69 members of Parliament.

“This is a historic moment and I am proud the Labour Party played a proactive role,” Dr Muscat added.

He later acknowledged it would be “an uphill struggle” to persuade the majority of voters in favour of divorce legislation.

Sources said polls conducted by both parties showed a majority of the population was against divorce legislation.

During a press conference, Dr Muscat said he would “respect the decision of the public in this legislature” but at no point did he exclude raising the issue again in the next legislature.

The question the party proposed takes the major points of the Bill originally presented by Dr Jeffrey Pullicino, which itself was based on the Irish divorce law approved through a referendum in 1995:

“Do you agree with the introduction of the option of divorce in the case of a married couple, which has been separated or living apart for at least four years, when there is no reasonable hope for reconciliation and where adequate maintenance is guaranteed and children protected?”

The motion, which Dr Muscat said was approved through a secret vote with all 34 members of the parliamentary group voting in favour, also says public funds should not be allowed to be used for either side of the debate.

Dr Muscat also provided a roadmap, calling for an urgent House Business Committee meeting to be held to set a date for the parliamentary debate on the motion. This could start as early as next week and is not likely to take long. Once the referendum question is approved, the government will have seven days to announce a referendum date, which should not be later than 40 days after the announcement.

Since both parties agree on the urgency of the issue, it is likely the proposals will be accepted, meaning a referendum could be held well before summer, possibly in April or even before.

Dr Pullicino Orlando said yesterday he would support Labour’s motion, which referred directly to the Bill he presented together with Mr Bartolo.