Franco Debono acknowledged this evening that the prime minister's decision to submit himself to a secret vote within the PN was not something to be taken lightly and had a certain import.

Replying to a series of questions put to him on telephone during One TV's programme Realta' Dr Debono, however, refused to be drawn on how he will be acting in parliament or how he interpreted Thursday's vote on the no-confidence vote, in which he abstained.

PETITION 'DISAPPEARS'

In his brief intervention, Dr Debono himself asked what had happened to a petition which had been circulating in his district, calling for his resignation from parliament. He noted that nothing had been heard about it, possibly because only a small number of signatures were collected. He added that he was having good feedback from his district, with people understanding that he had raised issues on their behalf.

At the beginning of the legislature, he recalled, voters in the fifth district who had voted for him instead of a minister (Louis Galea) and a parliamentary secretary (Helen d'Amato) had wished that their votes been adequately respected, but he had stopped them from circulating a petition to be sent to the prime minister. He said that one thing which may not have helped Louis Galea was the fact that his assistant Charlo Bonnici left the ministry shortly before the election to pursue his campaign.

Mr Bonnici, who was a guest on the programme, said that Dr Galea had given him his permission.

Asked whether he was still calling for resignations, and how he would comment on the fact that the prime minister had said he would assume responsibility but never mentioned the 'clique', Dr Debono said the prime minister's decision had a certain import.

What the prime minister had decided was not something which was done lightly, he said, and he would see whether Dr Gonzi would do more.

Dr Gonzi, he said, appeared to have noted his various declarations.

Asked if anything had changed since Thursday's vote, Dr Debono indicated that there had not been any other developments.

He said he stood by his declarations that Malta needed fundamental reforms and for decision makers to assume responsibilities. For example, he said, no one had assumed responsibility for what had happened in prisons (the drug trafficking case).

Reacting to a remark by former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon, who said he disagreed with his methods, Dr Debono said his actions followed years during which he had 'sweated blood' to bring about change, only to be ignored.

For example, he said, it had taken the government eight years to bring into force a law, already on the statute book, for legal assistance to persons under interrogation. And that only happened when the Opposition moved a motion in parliament.

Therefore, Dr Debono argued, the Opposition was not taking advantage of him, but of the government's own failures.

Reacting to other questions, Dr Debono refused to give a direct reply to whether the government should from now on rely on the Speaker's casting vote or call an election.

He, however, reiterated his call for dignity to parliament. He said the Committee on Democratic Change, which had been convened to discuss constitutional reform, was doomed to failure because it had been meeting behind closed doors. Then, when something was leaked, mistrust crept in and matters started to collapse. Such important matters, he said, should not be discussed behind closed doors.

And even though the committee had stopped functioning (because the Opposition walked out) one needed to ask what the government had done since then, he said. He said that for the first time in Malta, he had drafted a Bill on party financing, and he noted that not even the select committee would have gone this far since this remit was limited to preparing a report which would then served as basis for the drafting of legislation, which procedure could have taken years.

As to whether a government should have a majority of only one seat in parliament, Dr Debono insisted that the composition of parliament had to reflect the will of the people as closely as possible. Itwas the electorate that decided that the PN should win by 1,500 votes, which was translated into a one-seat majority, he said.

Considering that in the Maltese system, voters could give preferences using the single transferable vote to translate the will of the electorate almost to mathematical precision in parliament, it would be ironic if, after this process, one was to arbitrarily add one or more seats.

Asked if he was still calling for resignations Dr Debono said he had made his declarations and one would see what developments there would be.