Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/835410
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 JUNE 2017 9 News Labour files court complaint against PN's two additional seats TIM DIACONO THE Labour Party has taken the Electoral Commission to the Constitutional Court in objection to its decision to give the Na- tionalist Party two extra seats in Parlia- ment. Labour won 37 seats in Saturday's elec- tion against the PN's 28, a nine-seat gap that was proportionally larger than it should be for the 35,280 vote margin be- tween the two parties. As compensation, the Electoral Com- mission granted two extra seats to the PN – which went to Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Frederick Azzopardi. However, Labour is contesting this deci- sion on the ground that the PN's 28 elect- ed MPs include Partit Demokratiku leader Marlene Farrugia, who had contested the election on the PN ticket as part of the 'Forza Nazzjonali' coalition. The PL complaint is noting that Malta's electoral law states that the proportional- ity mechanism kicks in if there is only one minority party. "Throughout the election campaign, the PN and the PD distinguished themselves as two separate and distinct parties and had said from the outset that their MPs would represent their respective parties," the PL pointed out in its court complaint. "The PD candidates even used the slo- gan 'Tal-Orangjo, Orange' to distinguish themselves as a separate party on the bal- lot sheet, to allow voters to distinguish between the PN and PD candidates." Labour called on the Constitutional Court to declare that the next Parliament will be composed of three parties – the PL as the majority party, and the PN and the PD as two minority parties – and that there was therefore no need for the pro- portionality mechanism to kick in. The PN accused Labour of acting hard- headedly and of disrespecting the will of the people. "In court, the PN will defend the will of the people as well as Malta's constitu- tional law. The PN got 135,696 votes in the election and each and every one of these votes should be represented in Par- liament, with the government enjoying a seven seat majority." PD hits out at Muscat for reappointing Mizzi, Schembri in new administration PN calls on Muscat to reverse 'vindictive' transfers Labour is insisting that PD leader Marlene Farrugia's election means there is a third party in the House, even though she ran on the PN ballot sheet TIM DIACONO THE Partit Demokratiku has hit out at Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for appointing Konrad Mizzi as tourism minister and re-appointing Keith Schembri as OPM chief of staff, despite the two having been implicated in the Panama Papers. "It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister could not find less tainted persons among those who were elected to en- trust with the Ministry of Tour- ism and Air Malta, but decided on reappointing Konrad Mizzi in his cabinet," the PD said in a statement. "Furthermore, the Prime Min- ister decided on keeping Keith Schembri as his chief of staff despite his dubious behaviour and the opening of a company in Panama back in 2013, a few months apart from when the La- bour Party came into power." It follows similar criticism by the Nationalist Party, which said on Friday that Muscat's decision to maintain Mizzi and Schem- bri proves that he "has learned nothing from the general elec- tion and is intent on divisive politics and not politics based on unity". Elsewhere, the PD said it is dis- appointed that financial services and citizenship now fall directly under the Office of the Prime Minister – through parliamen- tary secretariats headed by Silvio Schembri and Julia Farrugia re- spectively. "The two sectors are connected to the ongoing magisterial inves- tigations," the PD said, referring to inquiries into alleged kick- backs paid to Keith Schembri. It also questioned Muscat's de- cision to appoint newly-elected Labour MP Robert Abela as his personal legal consultant, argu- ing that a clear line should be drawn between Parliament and the executive. On a positive note, the PD praised Muscat for appointing Justyne Caruana as Gozo minis- ter – a decision that has report- edly drawn the ire of her prede- cessor, Anton Refalo. THE Nationalist Party has said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat must reverse several "vindictive" transfers of civil servants and government agen- cy employees if he is truly com- mitted to achieving national unity. The PN was reacting to Mus- cat's speech at a political activi- ty on Friday, in which he admit- ted he was wrong to have said that his relationship with out- going Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was unsalvageable. "Whatever has happened, whatever we did, despite all our disagreements, while you are PN leader, I am committing myself to forget what has hap- pened and I am willing to work with you in the interest of the country," he said. However, the PN in a state- ment said that it was point- less for Muscat to speak about national unity in public, when several government employees have been transferred vindic- tively since Labour's election victory last week. "Muscat is facing a test that will determine whether he is ready to walk the talk. If he doesn't reverse all those vindic- tive transfers, then the Maltese public will know that it is un- true that 'we are all Malta'." PN MP Jason Azzopardi ear- lier warned that several Nation- alist supporters have been vin- dictively transferred from their posts within Heritage Malta, the police force, Transport Mal- ta and the Health Department.