Labour MP Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said today that after assuring herself that the Divorce Bill will be approved in Parliament, she would abstain from the vote.

Ms Coleiro Preca had spoken against divorce during the referendum campaign.

She said in a statement today that the will of the majority had to be respected. However, the referendum result also showed a substantial minority which was against the introduction of divorce. Among them were many labourites which, Ms Coleiro-Preca said, she could not ignore.

She said she would take an active part in the debate in parliament and raise issues that had been mentioned in the campaign In this way, she hoped that the Bill would be tweaked so that divorce would cause the least possible harm. 

She said that Labour leader Joseph Muscat had appointed her to a small group of MPs which will be working towards this end.

THREATS AND INTIMIDATION

Ms Coleiro Preca said that now her position had been declared, she hoped there would be an end to speculation and comments which were unworthy of those who had made them.

It was a shame, she said, that because of her position during the divorce campaign, she had been threatened and slandered and her family had been intimidated. This behaviour, she said, undermined the work of the Labour Party and Joseph Muscat.

Ms Coleiro-Preca said her decision to abstain in the vote in Parliament had been made known to Dr Muscat early in the campaign and it conformed to the party position of allowing MPs to vote according to their conscience.

Another MP who had spoken against divorce, Carmelo Abela, said on Monday he would respect the will of the people and vote in favour.

MP Adrian Vassallo declared before the referendum result that whatever the outcome, he would vote against.