Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said that the referendum was needed because no party had an electoral mandate to legislate on divorce. His personal preference was for the Bill to be discussed in Parliament before going for a referendum and not for the contrary.

Everyone had the freedom to choose and the decision had been taken. He owed his seat in Parliament to Gozo, an electoral district that showed a clear majority against the introduction of divorce. The decision had been taken on a national not a district level. One had, therefore, to respect the will of the electorate.

Parliament was bound to respect the referendum result. At the same time there should be no problem with members voting against or abstaining since, even in the referendum, 47 per cent were against the introduction of divorce.

Dr Said said that both political parties had given a free vote to their members. The government side was exercising this principle and declared that no one had made any pressure on how to vote. On the contrary he said that the Leader of the Opposition had bound his members to either vote in favour or to abstain only.

He said that, while the principles mentioned in the referendum question had to be reflected in the Bill, one also had to look into certain issues such as the community of acquests, pensions and inheritance.

He also said that both movements in the campaign and Parliament agreed on the need to strengthen the family. The government, on its part, had taken a number of family-friendly initiatives to enable them to achieve a work-life balance.