There was disagreement among members of the Electoral Commission on an appeal following a court decision to award two extra parliamentary seats to the PN, the Times of Malta has learnt.
Sources said not all members agreed on the contents of the appeal, which is expected to start being heard in court today.
The sources said the Electoral Commission’s legal counsel, Ian Refalo, argued against drawing up the appeal from the Constitutional Court’s decision along the lines originally indicated by the Commission. Prof. Refalo insisted he could not take charge of an appeal he did not believe in, the sources said.
The debate on the matter was heated at times, the sources added, with some members insisting that legal counsel should follow the client’s brief. However, according to the sources, Prof. Refalo remained adamant and insisted that, should the Commission opt to go for contents not in line with what he was advising, another lawyer would have to be brought in to handle the matter.
When contacted to get his own version, Prof. Refalo insisted he would not comment on discussions between him and a client. He accused the Times of Malta of being “unethical” in asking him to comment.
Chief Electoral Commissioner Joe Church would not comment either. He said he would not discuss internal affairs in public.
The conflict within the commission was over its appeal of the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding the mistake committed during the counting process for the 2013 general election.
In May, the Constitutional Court gave the Nationalist Party an additional two seats in Parliament after it ruled there had been a vote miscount.
There were divergent opinions within the Electoral Commission on whether to appeal the judgment. An attempt to reconcile these divergent opinions was undertaken, and an understanding was reached to file an appeal based on two parameters, the sources said.
The first was that the Commission had not identified any bad faith in the incorrect transfer of Claudette Pace’s votes, and the move was, in all probability, a genuine human error. The other line of appeal was that the Electoral Commission would leave it up to the Court of Appeal to decide whether the electoral result was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, as had already been decided by the Constitutional Court.
In view of the disagreement on the contents of the appeal, a vote was taken and the Electoral Commission tasked Prof. Refalo to draw up the appeal as he deemed fit, the sources said.