Two MPs voted incorrectly in 1997 but their mistakes were never rectified. Kurt Sansone revisits the incident in the wake of Thursday's tumultous Parliamentary sitting.
It was November 1997 and Parliament had to vote on a simple procedural motion on the Budget debate when opposition MP Frans Agius voted by mistake with the Labour government.
It was one of those watershed moments in the turbulent 1997-1998 period when Dom Mintoff whipped up parliamentary havoc for then Prime Minister Alfred Sant's Labour government, which hung on a one-seat majority.
With Mr Mintoff voting against the procedural motion, Dr Agius's yes vote was pivotal for the motion to be carried. His vote stood, despite the Nationalist opposition's protestations and was recorded in the minutes of the House. However, what ensued was a two-day debate on the minutes of that sitting with the opposition asking that they be amended to reflect Dr Agius's true intention.
The Żabbar doctor had immediately declared he had made a mistake because he was distracted by cross debate in the House. The word he used to describe his momentary lapse, "lapsus", has been etched in parliamentary history and went on to become the butt of many jokes.
In many ways, what happened in Thursday's parliamentary sitting when Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea voted by mistake in favour of the opposition's motion on the power station extension was a re-run of the events that unfolded on November 10, 1997 apart from the outcome.
Contrary to what happened in 1997, Speaker Michael Frendo did not call the vote and suspended the sitting to verify whether the government's claim that Labour MP Justyne Caruana voted against her parliamentary group's direction was correct.
The recording was not clear and the doubt raised by Tonio Borg, the Leader of the House, prompted Dr Frendo to submit the motion once again to the vote.
In that fateful sitting 13 years ago no second vote was taken. The Nationalist opposition had asked for a division on the procedural motion.
Before the Clerk of the House started the roll-call, Nationalist MP Ċensu Galea asked for each vote to be declared with a clear yes or no, meaning that the microphones of MPs would be kept on.
The intention behind such a call was to allow radio listeners who followed Parliament to hear former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff clearly vote against his government or abstain.
The two days that followed consisted of an interminable technical debate on the minutes of the November 10 sitting. The PN parliamentary group wanted to include three amendments in the minutes to reflect Dr Agius's true intentions and overturn the vote.
Eventually the Speaker ruled that the three amendments could be put to the vote, which was taken in two parts on November 11 and November 12.
The first amendment presented by the PN was defeated with the Speaker's casting vote after Mr Mintoff was not present in Parliament.
However, the second amendment passed when Labour MP Edwin Grech made a mistake and voted with the Nationalist opposition. Again, his vote stood despite claiming he had made a mistake.
The third amendment did not pass because all MPs on the government side, including Mr Mintoff, voted against.
The 1997 mistakes by Dr Agius and Prof. Grech were not unique in parliamentary history. A similar incident had occurred in the 1960s when notary Sammy Abela, a PN parliamentarian, voted by mistake and his vote was not changed.
Mistakes happen but parliamentary procedure seems to be unforgiving.