I had been following the divorce debate on various TV stations. I believe the majority voted Yes in the referendum because many people did not see through the incorrect statements they were giving us. People were confused and it is no wonder so many of them did not vote on such an important issue.

We were told by Deborah Schembri, leader of the Yes campaign, that an expert told her that a study on the situation of the families in Malta could not be carried out since we did not have divorce and one would not be able to assess the impact of divorce on Maltese families.

One does not have to be a university graduate to know this. We needed to honestly assess the trends in sociological changes in all the countries following the introduction of divorce and apply them to Malta. But the Yes camp insisted that one cannot do this since Maltese may react differently.

Different studies have shown that cohabitation has increased in some countries by 400 per cent following the introduction of divorce. But Dr Schembri told us that this is a worldwide trend. So do we consider trends or not? I believe this is inconsistency and a number of people are feeling betrayed.

Frank Portelli showed us a document from a British Catholic bishop asking him for a divorce decree before starting the annulment process since all civil issues had to be settled beforehand.

I think Dr Portelli is an intelligent person and must have known why he was asked for the divorce decree and not the separation decree. He kept repeating the same thing even though the Maltese Church authorities gave a clear explanation on several occasions.

Did Dr Portelli really believe he was telling us the truth? If yes, I have to be careful whom to consider intelligent/honest. The last time I saw him was on television and his way of reasoning was clear – two weights and two measures and doing his utmost to get his way. Good luck to him, he got his way.

Now that masks have started to fall off, we are learning who the people with principle are.

I admire Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Adrian Vassallo and Edwin Vassallo who expressed their beliefs before the referendum and are now keeping their word in spite of the difficulties the former two are facing.

We need people like them who are honest, who speak the language people can understand and who are not afraid of the negative consequences they may suffer because of their stated beliefs.

Well, following this result, all of us need to work well to have a law that may be able to minimise the negative effects of divorce which studies have shown to have occurred in other countries.