Postponing local council elections would breach the Local Councils Act that states the next ones are set for 2015, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici confirmed yesterday.

Though no formal proposal has yet been made, the government has floated the idea of postponing all local elections until 2019, but this would require changing the law.

The idea is to extend their term and hold all the polls on the same day as the European Parliament election.

The government has said that it would discuss the proposal with all stakeholders before taking a final decision.

“If we opt for postponement, there would be the need to amend the Local Councils Act,” Dr Bonnici told this newspaper yesterday. The Opposition has said the idea smacks of totalitarianism, while analysts Godfrey Grima, Kenneth Wain and Joseph M. Pirotta told The Sunday Times of Malta that such a move would weaken democracy and make voters feel “duped”.

In his reaction, Dr Bonnici acknowledged that some councils (those which last held the election in 2012) would have their term extended to seven years, rather than their normal four-year mandate.

“In that case I would still be comforted by the fact that councillors would nevertheless have been elected by the people,” Dr Bonnici argued.

He added that he was very pleased with the debate generated by the proposal and was looking forward to hearing all arguments in favour and against.