The duty to vote in the divorce referendum

Today’s vote on divorce is the sixth referendum to be held in Malta, including one that was limited to Gozo. Statistics available online indicate that, in general, a substantial number of eligible voters opted not to participate, in sharp contrast with what happens in general elections where turnouts are very high. The last referendum to be held here – in March 2003 when the Maltese were asked to decide whether they wanted the country to join the European Union – was an exception, registering a turnout of just under 91 per cent.

What will be the case today has yet to be seen but, irrespective of what happened in the past, voters ought to realise their responsibility as citizens and do their duty.

A total of 325,103 voters were entitled to partiicpate and answer yes or no to a question Parliament decided upon in mid-March after 10 sittings and more than 28 hours of debating time. The question is: “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?”

Divorce has been discussed on and off in this country for quite some time and it was put high on the national agenda in the 22 months of Labour government when then Prime Minister Alfred Sant had set up a commission on the family. The political problems faced by the Sant Administration and its subsequent collapse turned the attention on other matters.

Divorce again came to the fore when Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando presented his Private Member’s Bill in Parliament last year and made it evident he was determined not to let the debate dissipate. He resolved the matter had to be addressed and decided upon one way or the other.

The rest is history and the people will today decide whether this Parliament should continue debating the divorce Bill before it or drop it. At least, one hopes the will of the people as pronounced through this referendum will be fully respected by their representatives.

Throughout the campaign over the past weeks, those for and against divorce presented their case as forcefully as can be. The Church too made its voice heard, this being also a moral issue and not a purely political one.

Admittedly, this is not an easy decision for many and, as opinion polls clearly show, there is quite a high percentage of eligible voters who are still undecided. That indecision should not be translated in staying away from the polling stations.

Each and every one of us has the responsibility as citizens of a democratic country to express ourselves on the matter. Our representatives in Parliament agreed to have the people decide on whether divorce legislation should be introduced or not in this country. Whether they were right or wrong, the decision now rests with us and we must do our duty.

Voters today will not have to choose, even if in order of preference, from a long list of names. They have only two choices: yes or no. By the time they are holding the ballot paper in their hand and ready to tick one of the boxes, they would have weighed all the pros and the cons, those that are evident and others that are not, including matters of the heart and the conscience, personal interest and the common good.