Nationalist MP Peter Micallef said yesterday that the result of the consultative referendum on divorce would in no way tie him down when the vote on the Divorce Bill was held.

The referendum, he said, should indicate the people’s beliefs but it should not force Members of Parliament to vote according to what was decided in that referendum if the members did not morally agree.

Dr Micallef said the electorate had to analyse the effects of divorce before voting in the referendum. A healthy society depended on healthy families. It was important to strengthen the family before discussing divorce. However, he recognised that in certain cases family problems culd not be solved, and it was better for children when such couples separated.

Couples should seek therapy and try to solve problems instead of rushing to separate. Legislating divorce was a major decision which would have a large and significant impact on society as a whole. A positive aspect of divorce was that it offered separated couples the civil right to re-marry.

One had to acknowledge that many such couples were still young and had greatly suffered due to their marital problems. Yet, divorce would negatively affect society as a whole and would dilute the values of the family.

Therefore, he believed that such a right could not be granted if it was to the detriment of society as a whole.

In the opposition’s motion, children were being used as an emotional pawn in order to influence the electorate. He felt that this was very misleading since it portrayed divorce as beneficial to children and society. Many people were not in favour of divorce, yet when faced with such a tainted motion, they felt inclined to vote in favour in order to protect children. He was not in favour of the proposed referendum question and could not understand how parliamentary members who were against divorce could be in favour of such a question.