Conscience rules in absence of mandate (2)

Now that these islands are heading for a consultative referendum on divorce, our Parliament will still have no mandate to introduce the measure in the event of a yes vote. The way things turned out, the people feel they have been betrayed. We were taken for a ride by the MPs who introduced this Private Members’ Bill, as they did not have the backing of their party’s electoral programme. Those candidates who said they would push for divorce were not elected. One of them was Georg Sapiano. I remember hearing him talk about divorce on a TV programme. We well know what happened; he never made it. So there you had a district referendum with a no vote result.

Divorce would shake the fundamental Christian values of our country. Since this referendum is only consultative and not mandatory, the Prime Minister would then need to call it a day, dissolve Parliament and go for an election. That is what we had before joining the European Union; it was a national issue that had to be endorsed in an election. Indeed, the issue of divorce is much more serious as it goes contrary to this country’s Christian beliefs, which are supposed to be protected by our Constitution.

I maintain that this legislation will have no mandate if the vote is yes and it has to be endorsed by a general election. Other than that, it is a betrayal of the Maltese nation.