Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1522936
12 ANALYSIS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 JUNE 2024 Electoral reform: another lunge After a 12.7% vote for third parties and independents in the European election, activist group Il-Kollettiv is fronting a parliamentary petition calling for electoral reform and a national quota that would facilitate the election of non-mainstream candidates. But do Malta's small parties have to create their own fortunes first by starting to win representation through the present system, JAMES DEBONO asks AT 12.7%, the collective third-party vote in the Europe- an elections in Malta has been the highest ever registered in a nationwide election since 1962. But if repeated in a general election, it could well be a re- sult that yields zero seats to third parties, which must win representation in one of Mal- ta's 13 districts in a system that does not have a national mini- mum threshold. On their own steam, third parties have not elected an MP since 1966, except for the two Partit Demokratiku MPs elect- ed after forming the Forza Naz- zjonali coalition with the PN in 2017. And while the Maltese elec- torate has gravitated towards a duopoly in all post-1966 elections, the constitutional amendments granting a ma- jority of seats to the party with an absolute (1987) and a rela- tive majority of votes (1996) have entrenched the status quo – third-party votes no longer count in determining who gets to govern, as they did before 1987 when their votes could be transferred to other parties if they were not elected. Despite this major disad- vantage, at 3.2% in 2022, the third-party vote was still the highest in any general election since 1966, in a context where it is becoming impossible for the big parties to contain an in- creasingly pluralistic society in two big containers. The question remains: should third parties get their act to- gether and use the Single Transferable Vote to get elect- ed and force other parties to change the rules, or should they pass the buck to civil so- ciety and force constitution- al changes that facilitate this change? In doing so, there are three factors that proponents of elec- toral reform need to consider. 1. The STV in Malta: the exception for third parties The STV was not intend- ed to stop third parties from growing: In Ireland, which has the same system, third parties thrive. But with some notable exceptions, the Maltese have still opted for a duopoly that yields "winner-takes-all" gov- ernments. The STV has been in place in Malta since 1921, ensuring proportional representation by allowing voters to rank candi- dates, even those from differ- ent parties, by preference. The catch for third parties is the quota they have to reach. To get elected throughout the counting process, a candidate must reach a quota of 16% of votes cast in any district, a re- gional compartment of villages that makes it hard for any third party with a strong national presence of, say 10%, to sur- pass. Despite these obstacles, small parties did win representation. The system was originally in- tended by the British to pre- vent the rise of a dominant anti-colonial movement like the Congress Party in India, in both Ireland and Malta. But Ireland, which has simi- larly-sized constituencies and a similar electoral system, has elected 8 parties in parliament in its last general election. Even in Malta, its use led to the emergence of four par- ties in the 1920s, one of which was the nascent Labour Party, which secured 23% of the vote in its first election. But even then, the parties eventually coalesced around two blocs, with Labour allying itself with the larger Consti- tutional Party in a 'compact' which saw both parties calling on their voters to continue vot- ing for candidates of the allied party after voting for their own. Even the 1962 election re- sulted in five parties securing seats in parliament, including two parties who garnered 9% of the vote and another elect- ed with just 5% of the vote. But one major factor in the 1962 election was the support of the church hierarchy for small par- ties united under the so-called 'Umbrella'. That did not prevent in- creased polarisation between two major parties in all subse- quent elections, a division that reflected Malta's class struc- ture and the split between a conservative elite aligned with the church hierarchy and a more secular and working- class-based Labour Party. Sub- sequently, this duopoly was reinforced by the divisive after- math of the 1981 election and 20 years later, the EU question. But ever since Malta joined the EU, it was the PN that found it increasingly difficult to hold on to a coalition of vot- ers; and Labour is experiencing similar problems now. 2. 'Governability' reforms reinforces winner-takes-all The constitutional amend- ments of 1987 and 1996 effec- tively created two classes of voters: those who win the right to say who governs the coun- try, by choosing the dominant PN or PL, and those who don't by not voting for them, perpet- uating the idea that a vote for a third party is wasted. In 1981, Labour was elected with a majority of seats – not by the popular vote, which the PN won. The 'perverted' result led to a constitutional amendment meant to avoid a repetition – the constitutional changes of 1987 would mean that voters would determine who wins power through first preference votes – the popular vote – and not by all final-counted votes through the STV. In 1996, this system was fur- ther reinforced with amend- ments that guaranteed that even a party with a relative ma- jority would be able to govern with a majority of seats. It was a major blow for the budding third-party force of Alternatti- va Demokratika, whose growth in the early 1990s threatened the ability of the major parties to win an absolute majority. Effectively the 1996 amend- Scenes from the general elections held on the 17, 18 and 19 February 1962. People waiting for the results of the 1962 general election in St George's Square in front of the Main Guard in Valletta. This was the last election that returned more than two political parties to parliament. Photo: Joseph Borg Collection, National Archives of Malta.