Here it is: A hung Parliament

Following last week’s vote in Parliament on the motion of no-confidence moved by the opposition, we have a new reality: a House of Representatives wherein no political party can boast of having a majority.

A Prime Minister who can’t lead his own group in the House forward cannot lead the country forward- Owen Bonnici

True, the opposition’s motion asking the House to declare that it does no longer have confidence in the government was not carried because it did not attract the votes of the majority of all the members of the House. Therefore, from the purely legal point of view, the Prime Minister, has not been shown the red card by Parliament.

However, it is also true from the pragmatic and political point of view that the Prime Minister has lost his single seat majority and can no longer claim, de facto, to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House.

I still believe that, upon the pronunciation of Franco Debono in the media that he no longer had confidence in the Prime Minister, the most honourable way for the Prime Minister to resolve the matter in the supreme interest of the country was to put forward himself a vote of confidence in his government. After all, he had felt the need to do that only a few weeks ago when the same Dr Debono abstained on a motion of censure in Minister Austin Gatt.

The correct and precise reasons that the Prime Minister had mentioned in the debate on the motion of confidence, which occurred after the Arriva parliamentary vote, are as correct and precise today as they were a few weeks ago.

“The people deserve to know where they stand with their own government,” he had solemnly, and justly, stated.

That way the result would have led to a resolution of the uncertainty by the most democratic and fair methods.

An abstention or a vote against by Dr Debono would have meant that the requisite of the majority of all members of the House voting in favour of the motion of confidence would have not been met. That would have led to certainty and the matter would have been referred to the people to vote for whoever they choose in an election without any further unnecessary postponements.

On the other hand, a vote in favour of the government by Dr Debono would have cleared the air and sent a message of stability and, again, certainty, at least for the foreseeable future.

However, the Prime Minister chose not to act in the public interest but purely in the interests of his GonziPN coterie. He preferred to force the country into having a hung Parliament rather than resolving the matter in the most clean and democratic manner in the supreme interest of our nation.

Between losing his seat in Castille and “only” losing the majority of the House, he preferred the second option.

A hung Parliament is bad news for our economy, for the stability and reputation of our country. If this uncertainty drags on, it will not be the Prime Minister who will suffer but our families and our businesses that need a true par idejn sodi (a pair of safe hands) in these troubled times. A Prime Minister who can’t lead his own group in the House forward cannot lead the country forward.

If the Prime Minister really wants to act in the supreme interest of the country he must advise the President to call an election as soon as possible.

Dr Bonnici is the Labour spokesman for higher education, the University, research and culture and a member of the Foreign and European Affairs Committee.