The constitutional court’s ruling that only two political parties were elected to Parliament may not be the end of this legal and political debate.

The Labour Party has not excluded appealing the judgment delivered last Friday in the case it instituted against the Electoral Commission for awarding the Nationalist Party two additional parliamentary seats.

Daniel Micallef, PL president, told The Sunday Times of Malta that the party’s legal team was studying the judgment. “At this stage we do not rule out pursuing other legal avenues.”

In a 10-page ruling the constitutional court said the Electoral Commission had correctly interpreted the law when it awarded the PN two extra seats to restore proportionality between votes obtained and parliamentary seats.

The PL had objected to this on the premise that Marlene Farrugia’s election meant the Democratic Party had gained representation in Parliament and so the House was made up of representatives from three political parties.

The PL argued that the Constitution allowed extra seats to be awarded only if there was one minority party, not two, and one majority party.

However, the court ruled that Dr Farrugia’s candidature under the PN list meant she was legally a PN MP. This meant that only two political parties – the PL and PN – had elected MPs, therefore the commission was correct in its interpretation.

I was hoping that I and my colleagues could be making Maltese political history

While the court ruling delivered legal clarity, its ramifications left a sour taste in the mouths of some PD supporters, who vented their disbelief on social media at what appeared to be the complete absorption of their party into the PN. Most notable was the sense of dejection expressed by Marco Cremona, an environmental activist, who was the PD’s first general secretary when it was founded last year.

In a Facebook post he wrote that 11 months ago he had “proudly” submitted an application for the registration of the PD at the Electoral Commission’s office to register the new political force.

“I was hoping that I and my colleagues could be making Maltese political history and a small step towards removing the PN-PL duopoly’s stronghold in Parliament by getting a third party elected to Parliament. Today I am not sure of what was achieved.”

For Michael Briguglio, an advocate of the PN-PD coalition, however, the court ruling was “a victory for pluralism” that confirmed the value of pre-electoral coalitions on a single party list.

Mr Cremona disagreed with this assessment. “It [the court ruling] effectively means that there still are two parties (PN and PL) in Parliament.”

However, for another fervent supporter of the PN-PD agreement, Jacques Rene Zammit, a lawyer based in Luxembourg, the PL’s arguments were spin intended to undermine a coalition that was the only way in the current scenario of getting a third party MP elected.

“There are two types of people in denial: Labour’s false denial which is only there to sow doubt and undermine any possible coalition/umbrella movement for the future and nationalist nostalgics who fail to understand that the key to returning to government is a plan for the future made up of an umbrella arrangement – wider than anything that the PN can ever be,” Dr Zammit wrote on Facebook.

He was responding to comments by PL backers, who insisted that Dr Farrugia had deceived PD supporters.

Dr Farrugia was the first third party MP to get elected to Parliament since Independence. However, to do so she had to piggy-back on the PN by agreeing to an accord that saw PD candidates listed under the PN list on the ballot sheet.

For the time being, Dr Farrugia is legally considered to be a PN MP and answerable to the PN Whip.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com

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