Updated: - The Office of the Prime Minister said today that a claim that the Prime Minister planned to call an early general election if he lost last Saturday's vote in parliament, was "unfounded."
The office was questioned about a claim that the prime minister had threatened MPs that he would call an early general election if they voted for the Labour Party's motion on the ministerial raise.
Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando pointed to the possibility of an early election when writing on Facebook, when responding to those who said he should have voted in favour of the Labour Party's motion to reflect the people's will. (The motion, which was voted down, was a declaration that Cabinet's behaviour on the raises granted in May 2008 was "insensitive, arbitrary and non-transparent".)
"I will not let anyone use me as an excuse to call an early election. My sentiments were very clearly expressed," Dr Pullicino Orlando told his Facebook friends, who asked him why he disappointed them with a no vote.
In another comment, Dr Pullicino Orlando said he was not prepared to disappoint those who elected him by destabilising the government.
"I cannot disappoint those who voted for me by acting in a way that leads to an early general election," he wrote, in a third comment.
When contacted, Dr Pullicino Orlando refused to elaborate. But sources close to him say Dr Gonzi approached him on Saturday, just before the vote, and said that if he were to vote with the Labour Party, there would be an early general election.
In Parliament, Dr Pullicino Orlando had said he was planning to vote with the Labour Party's motion to reflect public opinion on the matter. However, he changed his mind in the last minute after listening to the Prime Minister's parliamentary speech.
In his speech, Dr Gonzi proposed a way forward on the matter by suggesting the revival of the Select Committee on the Strengthening of Democracy, which would start off by discussing politicians' salaries, modelled around the system of the British House of Commons.
When contacted, Nationalist MP Jesmond Mugliett, who also had serious reservations about voting with his government on this matter, said he did not speak to Dr Gonzi at any point and decided to vote against the motion on his own volition.
"But I knew that the way I voted would have a bearing on the stability of government," he added.