A quarter of respondents to a survey about the Constitution did not know if Malta has a constitution or simply believed there was no constitution. 

The survey on constitutional awareness was commissioned by the Committee for Constitutional Awareness, which is chaired by former rebel Nationalist MP Franco Debono. 717 people were interviewed. 

Among the rest of the respondents,  The largest cohort, 28 per cent, put themselves middle of the way on a scale of 10 when asked how informed did felt. 

However, 75 per cent said it was quite or very important to them to be informed about the Constitution.

In replies to various questions, Dr Debono said he did not believe he should be considered by anyone as a stumbling block to constitutional reform.

The PN had objected to Dr Debono chairing the proposed Constitutional Convention.  

Last month Opposition leader Simon Busuttil suggested the President should chair the convention, which Dr Debono was tasked to head soon after Labour came to power in 2013.

Dr Debono said the PN had in its document on good governance embraced most of the constitutional reforms he had proposed in the previous legislature.

“Many of the issues I had with the PN stemmed from the fact that the party did not embrace constitutional reform but today the PN and I are on the same page in relation to constitutional reform,” he said.

Dr Debono said he took note of the Opposition leader’s suggestion but insisted he was just an appointee to the post.

He added though that a core principle of the PN was to put the individual at the centre of politics. “You cannot simply take the ideas and discard the individual.”

The Committee for Constitutional Awareness is made up of lawyers Veronique Dalli, Claire Bonello, Austin Bencini and Ray Mangion, social commentator Andrew Azzopardi, columnist Martin Scicluna, writers Trevor Zahra and Oliver Friggieri and Prof. Saviour Chircop.