MPs have no option but to vote in favour of the divorce Bill or else resign if they are not willing to accept the outcome of the referendum, according to Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio.
Dr Briguglio said once MPs “shifted their responsibility” and left it up to people to decide whether the country should introduce this civil right, they now had no option but to vote according to the referendum result. Otherwise, if they preferred to stick to their conscience, the most honourable way out for them would be to resign.
He was addressing a press conference that was meant to take place outside Hastings Gardens, in Valletta, where the Sette Giugno celebrations were being held. However, the police cordoned off the area and barred AD from approaching the gardens.
Dr Briguglio said the presence of the police was “disgusting” and “shameful”.
On Monday, he said, he received a call from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Michael Frendo who wanted an assurance that AD’s event would not interrupt his Sette Giugno speech. Dr Briguglio said he hoped Dr Frendo was unaware of the police presence and the blocked access to Hastings.
Returning to the issue of voting in Parliament, Dr Briguglio said MPs were engaged in a “mathematical game” to see how many of them were going to vote in favour of the Bill so that they could abstain from voting.
“Those who are not ready to vote in favour should resign. Any manoeuvring is simply unacceptable. AD will be carefully analysing the situation and will make sure parliamentarians do not take the Maltese electorate for a ride,” Dr Briguglio said.
AD justice spokesman David Friggieri described the matter as “a constitutional crisis”, adding it was unacceptable in a democracy for MPs to brush off journalists’ questions on their voting intentions.
He said MPs were torn between respecting the democratic process and their faith-based reasons for not wanting to vote in favour of the Bill.
AD international affairs spokesman Arnold Cassola said MPs’ behaviour was unacceptable by EU standards, which, he added, required full transparency and openness from the elected representatives of the people.
He denounced the “coalition of confessional MPs” from both sides, accusing them of abdicating their responsibilities when they refused to legislate on divorce and shifted the responsibility onto the people to choose.