In the raging debate about the divorce referendum, one important point is being largely ignored; this, irrespective of the merits of the issue in question.

The divorce Bill has been proposed in Parliament by Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Evarist Bartolo. These did not give any indication before the elections that they would be proposing this Bill. Had they done so their electors would have had the choice of voting for them with an informed mind and the two honourable gentlemen would have been justified in presenting this Bill (though either of them may well not have been elected because of this issue).

I have no doubt that people who voted for these two parliamentarians, both those against and in favour of divorce, are feeling cheated. Electoral mandates and programmes are there to be adhered to. These mandates may well be ignored by legislators, and sometimes are; but is this right? And should citizens be encouraging this sort of behaviour by our parliamentarians?

Citizens vote for legislators and trust them with an electoral mandate. Barring exceptions, as in national emergencies, parliamentarians should not change that mandate; they have the power but not the moral right to do so. One has to remember here that power means one thing, right totally another; a dictator, for example, has the power but certainly not the right to send soldiers to shoot citizens in the street.

Divorce is an important issue that may well, if introduced, change the fabric of our society. It should have been properly researched and debated and then presented to the public for consideration in a formal electoral programme. There is still time for this to be done. As it is citizens have been hijacked to vote on an issue that no one in Parliament was authorised by the electorate to push forward and whose possible effects on our society have not been properly assessed.

If the forthcoming referendum is passed voters will be giving a stamp of approval for present and future members of Parliament to feel free to be disloyal to their electoral mandate; in other words an approval to promise one thing and then do another.

A vote against the referendum proposal will send a clear message to legislators not to underhandedly abuse of the power given to them by the people.