I was quite surprised to read the Talking Point by Margaret Bianchi entitled Modern Society In Disorder as I happen to share most of her preoccupations.

Must we throw our principles overboard for the sake of being like the rest of the EU?

I choose to be an independent candidate because the two main political parties are so much trying to emulate each other that the Nationalist Party has chosen a deputy leader with liberal views in order not to lose or to bring back those liberals that were thinking of joining the Labour movement.

The Labour Party, which has now become a movement, started demonstrating liberal views during the leadership race between Joseph Muscat and George Abela. I still remember hearing Muscat on the radio saying that, once he’s in, he will be the first to table a Private Member’s Bill to introduce divorce in Malta.

Most will argue that divorce is now a closed chapter and so it is but we can still learn from past mistakes. In my opinion, many people were misled and many voted with their hearts as they thought that divorce would solve their or their close relatives’ marital breakdowns and give new hope to their new partnership through divorce.

I am afraid that these persons were still seeing marriage as a Catholic marriage and, with divorce, they would not be ‘poġġuti’ (cohabiting) any longer. I know one who was going to vote for divorce because his niece, who was separated from her first husband, had a partner and, in his view, with divorce she could marry and be able to receive Holy Communion! Another one voted for divorce because her son, who was in a similar situation, was about to lose his new partner because she wanted a legal union but, once divorce was enacted, she realised that it was an annulment from his first wife that she really wanted.

I agree that Malta no longer has a high percentage of Catholics and some form of remedy was needed for those who want to start a new relationship, which gives both of them legal rights that a normal marriage gives, such as inheritance rights, the right to a common home etc.

One might argue that I want to reinvent the wheel since divorce has been around for decades but then why should there not be a distinction between marriages?

The promised law on civil partnerships would have solved many problems. It would also have solved the question of same-sex unions and the regulation of siblings living together.

The Gay Rights Movement is rightly claiming that once marriage in Malta has been tainted with divorce it should also include same-sex unions. At the same time, they also want adoption rights and, in a couple of years, the list will be endless.

The whole saga should have been nipped in the bud and the cohabitation law enacted at the earliest, long before a Private Member’s Bill in favour of divorce was tabled. In this way, the Gay Rights Movement would have no claim on marriage and would have accepted the cohabitation law as the solution.

The matter has now gone out of hand. We have yet to see what the polls are forecasting. I have decided to contest the next election as I want to defend Catholic principles in Parliament and I want to do it without any party backing! It is something between me and my Creator.

At 57 I have enough experience of life. I have lived 18 years under Labour rule and 23 years under the Nationalists.

I remember Malta as a colony, independent and a republic. We have always safeguarded our Catholic beliefs. We have recently joined the European Union and have to accept comments that we still live in the Ice Age. Now that we have reached the climax of it all, must we throw our principles overboard for the sake of being like them?

I am not asking much from you, just to use your vote twice: give your number one to your party and the number two to me. In this way, you will be showing your silent protest without harming your party.

Those who were thinking of abstaining or invalidating their vote are also welcome.

Tonio Mercieca is an independent electoral candidate.