The pro-divorce movement has urged MPs who are against the introduction of divorce to respect the May 28 referendum result or abstain from voting in Parliament if the outcome goes against their conscience.
“It is the duty of parliamentarians to respect the will of the people who elected them... We are not saying they should vote for divorce in the polling booth... They were elected by the majority, so should respect the will of that same majority,” Deborah Schembri, who chairs the Iva pro-divorce movement, said.
Nationalist MP Jeffery Pullicino Orlando and his Labour counterpart Evarist Bartolo, who jointly presented the Private Member’s Bill on divorce, reiterated they would follow the wish of the people and withdraw the Bill if the referendum result was against divorce.
Quoting a recent survey carried out by The Sunday Times – that asked MPs how they would vote in Parliament following the referendum – Dr Pullicino Orlando said he was baffled by the replies of some of his Nationalist colleagues.
“I can’t understand how some, a minority, voted in favour of having a referendum on May 28 but then will be voting based on their conscience and possibly ignoring the voice of the people... Why bother voting for a referendum if you are going to ignore its result?” he said.
The survey showed that 12 MPs, all Nationalist except one from the Labour side, would vote on the basis of their conscience as they believe no party holds a mandate to introduce divorce during this legislature. These are MPs Frederick Azzopardi, Charlò Bonnici, Dolores Cristina, Giovanna Debono, Louis Deguara, Tonio Fenech, Beppe Fenech Adami, Mario Galea, Austin Gatt, Peter Micallef and Edwin Vassallo, as well as Labour MP Adrian Vassallo.
Questions were sent to the PN asking if it had an official stand on whether the divorce referendum should be respected and if it had general advice for its MPs on how to go about the vote.
In a short reply, the party said it expected all politicians to vote according to their conscience while fully respecting the people’s will.
This could be quite a challenge to juggle. In fact, in the survey, six MPs felt the only way they could reconcile the two intrinsic values – the democratic process and their stand on divorce – was by abstaining if the result did not tally with their beliefs.
These are: PN MPs Philip Mifsud, Stephen Spiteri and Francis Zammit Dimech and Labour MPs Owen Bonnici, Luciano Busuttil and Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.
Speaking during the Iva press conference yesterday, Mr Bartolo stressed that although this was a consultative referendum there was a moral obligation to respect its outcome. Unfortunately, he said, there was a whispering campaign going on telling people not to bother voting on May 28 since the referendum had no weight.
Such misconceptions will be addressed in the Yes campaign that the pro-divorce movement will embark upon in the run-up to the referendum.
The first event will be a public discussion held in Rabat on April 10. The pro-divorce movement also welcomed the referendum question.
The question, approved in Parliament last week, asks: “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?”
Dr Schembri said this was a clear question that asked people to vote on the introduction of a responsible divorce. One hoped that the elements listed in the question would be reflected in the law should the Bill be discussed in Parliament, she added.