Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1182484
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 NOVEMBER 2019 NEWS DAVID HUDSON THE President of the Republic should have the authority to send bills back to Parliament for reconsideration, Al- ternattiva Demokratika has proposed. The Green Party said that the Presi- dent should not be limited to a figure- head role but should have the ability to apply the brakes in the case of a stubborn executive for the protection of the Constitution. AD met with President George Vella at San Anton Palace on Tuesday as they presented him with a document containing over 30 proposals for con- stitutional reform. "The President should have enough resources and legal advice to fall back on to protect the constitution in an ef- fective manner," AD said. Parliament should be full-time There are many reasons why MPs should occupy a full-time role, AD said, not least because of the tremen- dous amount of work that needed to be carried out. "Parliamentary work should be the only commitment of an MP. This would be a strong bastion against pos- sible conflict of interest. It's not ac- ceptable that an MP assists business clients behind closed doors in the morning only to speak in parliament in the evening about accountability and scrutiny of governmental work." Only Parliament should appoint constitutional bodies The constitutional bodies are today appointed by the President on the ad- vice of the Prime Minister, which ad- vice comes after consultation with the Opposition Leader. This applies to the Electoral Commission, the Commis- sion on Public Service, the Employ- ment Commission and the Broadcast- ing Authority. "Up until 21 September 1964, these powers were in the hands of the gover- nor, a representative of Great Britain, of whom Malta was a colony. Since then, the Prime Minister has filled the governor's shoes. "These powers should be in the hands of parliament. Parliament, the highest institution of the country, should shoulder the responsibility for safeguarding the constitution," AD said. Likewise, the posts of Attorney Gen- eral, Commissioner of Police and all Permanent Secretaries of all Minis- tries should be approved by parlia- ment, and that a decision will be taken after public scrutiny of all nominees. Gender balance should be reached before elections The gender balance that needs to be reached at a parliamentary level should be ensured before an election, AD insisted, adding that a gender quota mechanism would not work if very few women garner too few votes. "AD believes that the best way to en- sure equal gender representation in parliament is to have a political party electoral list that should show gender balance before it is approved by the Electoral Commission. This shouldn't just benefit men and women but also people who do not identify with either gender," AD proposed. The small party insisted that this was the most practical way to ensure a gender balance. The electorate would be asked to vote for a party rather than individual candidates, and then the candidates elected will be estab- lished by order suggested by the po- litical parties themselves. Any party getting 2.5% of vote should be represented in parliament The proportional representation via a single transferrable vote favours the two major political parties, AD insist- ed. The small party recalled a political scenario in 2008 when the National- ist Party was granted four additional parliamentary seats because it had achieved 1,580 more first-count votes than the Labour Party. The first-count votes for AD that year amounted to 3,810 and yet all these votes were dis- carded and did not amount to a par- liamentary representation. "AD proposes a minimum threshold of 2.5% of valid first-count votes to guarantee parliamentary representa- tion—this percentage is equivalent to two votes from a total of 78 across the 13 districts. This would mean that parliament would reflect as closely as possible the popular vote." Positions of trust are unconstitutional The appointment of people in posi- tions of trust is prohibited by the con- stitution, which provides for how peo- ple are appointed in the public sector, AD said. "The government have repeatedly ig- nored the constitution in this particu- lar case due to their political loyalties. The Venice Commission has recently said that in a democracy subject to the rule of law, the public service is the backbone. If appointments on the ba- sis of merits are side-lined, this back- bone is weakened." There are currently around 700 in- dividuals in a position of trust, which AD said is unacceptable. "The constitution already prohibits such behaviour so there's no need for amendments here. What is needed is for the rule of law to truly reign." Remove religion from the constitution AD believes that the country is made up of lay people and that the consti- tution should no longer celebrate Roman Catholicism as the country's official religion. Article 2, which es- tablishes this, should be removed be- cause this article is now an anachro- nism, AD said. "Our country is changing continu- ously. It changed when the country became a European member state and then when it voted in a referendum in favour of divorce back in 2011." Archbishop Charles Scicluna has said that while the church does not approve of this proposal it would not launch a crusade. AD submitted a total of 31 propos- als, including suggesting the abolition of political party media and that the right to a popular referendum be pro- tected by the constitution. It ultimately suggested that an amended constitution should be put to the people and subjected to a popu- lar referendum. President should have power to send laws back to parliament, AD says AD suggested that an electoral college be set up to elect the president so that he could be freed from his political dependence on parliament "Our country is changing continuously. It changed when the country became a European member state and then when it voted in a referendum in favour of divorce back in 2011"