Alternattiva Demokratika branded the petition launched by hunters as an attempt to deny the people’s democratic right to have their say on issues on which they felt they had not been consulted by the government.

On Monday, the hunters’ federation (FKNK) said that it would petition for the inclusion of a proviso in the Referenda Act so that “interests, rights or privileges enjoyed by a minority” cannot be subjected to an abrogative referendum.

It argued that, thus, the proposed spring hunting referendum being piloted by a coalition of NGOs and the AD would be illegal.

This development followed the news that more than 30,000 signatures had been collected by the coalition, meaning it was on the brink of reaching the threshold set by law to request an abrogative referendum.

The FKNK said it was expecting both sides of Parliament to back its petition.

A Nationalist Party spokesman told this newspaper that they would be discussing the petition but only after it was presented in Parliament.

On the other hand, the Labour Party issued a one-line statement, saying that everyone had the right to raise a petition.

Contacted by Times of Malta, AD deputy chairman Carmel Cacopardo said that minority rights were already safeguarded because they were entrenched in the Constitution and, thus, could not be subjected to a referendum.

He said that the very fact that an issue was controversial implied that there had to be two factions, one of which had to be in minority.

Notwithstanding the similar stance adopted by subsequent governments in favour of spring hunting, the people had consistently expressed a strong opinion against it, Mr Cacopardo said.

He insisted that the hunters’ petition would not influence their plans, adding that the Coalition Against Spring Hunting had already started vetting the signatures prior to presenting them to the Electoral Commission.

The coalition described the FKNK’s petition as profoundly undemocratic and unethical. Spokesman Christian Debono said: “Claiming that hunters deserve protection from the wishes of voters because they are a minority group is a blatant attempt to twist the meaning of minority rights.”

Such rights, he pointed out, applied to people who might be persecuted for their religious beliefs, ethnicity or sexual orientation. “Shooting birds for fun does not qualify for such protection and no one should be convinced by this smokescreen” Mr Debono said.

The coalition said the referendum would seek to abolish the hunting of turtledove and quail in spring because of the declining populations and also the impact of spring hunting on other protected species.

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