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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2018 News 6 PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat who confirmed his exit from the Labour Party's leadership before the next general elec- tion has not excluded calling a referendum to have voters give the Government the mandate to change the Maltese Consti- tution. Interviewed by Andrew Azzo- pardi on Radju Malta's Ghandi Xi Nghid, Muscat hinted that work was underway behind the scenes to ensure there is a "structure" that all parties are comfortable with, and that could reach the desired goals. "I don't want to jump the gun and say anything that could un- dermine the good process there is on going now," he said. "I don't exclude holding a referendum if a strong mandate is needed for a totally new Constitution or one with many new elements." Muscat's appointment with history Having committed himself not to lead the Labour Party in the next general election Joseph Muscat may want to seal his leg- acy by embarking on widespread constitutional reform before the end of the current legislature. This may offer him the op- portunity to exorcise the spec- tre of panamagate and its toxic aftermath and make up for the shortcomings it exposed under his tutelage by securing lasting institutional change affecting future PMs. Yet much depends on whether the proposed changes will limit the powers of the executive by tightening checks and balances or whether these will serve to strengthen its arm by moving further towards a presidential system of government. Not contesting the next elec- tion puts Muscat at an advan- tage, as any limits on the powers of government brought about by constitutional reform will not af- fect him but his successor. The downside is that Mus- cat's early political exit may fuel speculation that any overhaul in institutions like the presidency could well create a future vacan- cy for a leader who would still be in the prime of his political career after vacating his party's leadership. In this way, in per- fect Bonapartist spirit, the sec- ond republic would be seen as a pretext for the first 'empire'. Embarking on constitutional reform in the next four years will also raise the profile of the next President still to be chosen by Muscat, especially if he or she is expected to bring the parties together to discuss the changes. For Muscat constitutional re- form also offers an opportunity to deviate attention from current shortcomings in governance to debate on a future blueprint, which would have no bearing on this legislative cycle. He may well be sending the message that before exiting the political scene, he wants to set the house in order so that future governments would behave bet- ter than he did. Divide and rule? Moreover talk of constitutional reform may also offer him the opportunity to expose rifts be- tween liberals and conserva- tives in the Opposition ranks on themes like removing the refer- ence to Roman Catholicism as Malta's religion in the Constitu- tion. But reform may also expose divisions between old and new labour on themes like Malta's constitutional neutrality. In fact Delia's first reaction to Saturday's announcement was to shoot down Muscat pro- posed constitutional reform as one meant to "remove crucifixes from classes" and to send our children to war", instead of fac- ing the serious issues "facing the country's institutions and the rule of law". On neutrality Delia's declara- tion signified a radical change from Busuttil's stance in favour of rewriting the clause. Delia's defence of neutrality coupled with his social conservative stance may signal a realignment, which sees Delia trying to appeal to both old labour and the social conservative right wing. The question of when and how Yet for Muscat the major prob- lem is that the country has still to agree on the method on how to arrive at constitutional re- form, let alone on the content of the proposed changes. Although both major parties have signalled agreement with convening a constitutional con- vention in their respective elec- toral programmes, it is unclear how the members of the con- vention will be chosen. Moreover it is unclear whether a referendum on constitutional reform will be held before or after consensus is reached in parliament on the reforms pro- posed. Any referendum on a draft opposed by the Opposi- tion, raises the spectre of reform by plebiscite. One major question is whether this referendum will compli- ment a previous twothirds ma- jority in parliament or whether it will take place before a final vote in parliament. If the latter will be the case, approval by say 55% of the elec- torate would be used as moral pressure on MPs to secure the necessary two thirds major- ity in parliament. This would be a replica of the aftermath of the divorce referendum which saw MPs dithering on whether to vote according to qualms of their conscience or respect the mandate. Yet while the introduction of divorce came after a referendum which resolved a single issue on which both parties lacked an electoral mandate, changing the Constitution involves changing the very rules for our democracy. Changing these rules in the ab- sence of a wide consensus could set a dangerous precedent. On the other hand expect- ing consensus on every change which is proposed may well re- sult in paralysis. Moreover since both parties provided no clear blueprint on constitutional reform in their electoral programmes, a refer- endum may be the only way of securing a mandate for constitu- tional reform. However, this also raises the prospect of a referendum on a combo of unrelated proposals ranging from neutrality to in- stitutional checks and balances, on which the electorate would be asked to pronounce itself through a generic yes or no. One risk would be that voters would end up voting along par- tisan lines, especially if the refer- endum is held in tandem with a national election. Speaking in parliament in Oc- tober the PN leader had pro- posed approval by referendum in next year's elections for the European parliament. Joseph Muscat hinted at a longer time- frame while agreeing with a ref- erendum. What mandate do the parties have? The present government has an electoral mandate to con- vene a convention to reform the Constitution and give birth to the second republic. The PN also made the same promise in its electoral programme. But beyond this joint commitment, both parties are heading towards uncharted territory. Of the two main parties rep- resented in parliament it is only the PN which made proposals with regards to the appointment of the highest offices of the state, including the President of the Republic and the police commis- sioner. The PN proposed that these are only appointed after securing a twothirds majority in the first vote and a simple major- ity in a third vote if consensus is not reached. The most tangible proposal in the PL's electoral manifesto is the creation of a constitutional mechanism through which er- rant MPs and public officials can be removed from office, a recall mechanism which may have saved the country much trouble had this reform been in place at the time of the Panama revela- tions. But in what suggests a reluc- tance to loosen the grip of gov- ernment on supposedly inde- pendent institutions, Labour's manifesto claimed that the existing Constitution already "guarantees checks and balances necessary to safeguard the in- terests of the people and for the country to function as a modern democracy". It is in this context that Labour reiterates its com- mitment to "strengthen the in- stitutions". What is significant is that the PL's manifesto vaguely refers to the advent of a "second republic," a term normally reserved to an overhaul in the division of pow- ers. Yet, so far, Muscat has not hinted at any such overhaul. In fact the examples he mentioned on Saturday were limited to a revision of the neutrality clause and the position of the Catholic church in Malta. Yet in Italy the advent of the second republic after tangen- topoli signified an attempt to move towards a bipartisan electoral system. In France the establishment of a fifth re- public saw the consolidation of the office of the President per- sonified at the time by war hero Charles De Gaulle, turning the country from a parliamentary democracy like Malta to a sem- ipresidential one. France is an example of how liberal demo- cratic institutions can coexist with a stronger presidency. On the other hand plebiscites have also been used in more authori- tarian countries like Turkey to strengthen the presidency and weaken parliamentary democ- racy. The Icelandic model A role model for Malta could be Iceland where the constitu- tional debate was crowdsourced and delegated to a democrati- callyelected but nonpartisan as- sembly. It is difficult to envision a simi- lar thing happening in highly partisan Malta where even school council elections are mo- nopolised by proxies of both ma- jor parties. But the Icelandic model could offer some insights on consti- tutional change driven by civil society. It was the collapse of banks in 2009 which saw thousands of Icelanders taking to the streets demanding constitutional change which led to the pass- ing of a parliamentary statute to guide the process of reform. Next was the convening of a randomly drawn group of 950 citizens to generate ideas for constitutional reform. Then, in the fall of 2010, twentyfive or- dinary Icelanders were elected from a field of over 500 to serve on a constitutional council that would formulate a new constitu- tion. Icelanders were able to follow the council's decisions and con- tribute suggestions through a Facebook page. This led an iterated process of drafts and comments, which led to changes in the proposed draft. The final draft greatly expanded direct democracy, allowing the public to be involved in ongoing governance. The draft also decreed the country's natural resources to be the property of the state. This provision sought to effectively reverse the country's privatisa- tion of fishing licences in the early 1990s. The draft was ap- proved by a twothirds majority in a consultative referendum in October 2012. But the reform failed to pass the two next hur- dles, approval by parliaments in two successive legislatures. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Second Republic Redemption through legacy? On Saturday, Joseph Muscat hinted that a new constitution will be approved through a referendum. JAMES DEBONO asks if this is Muscat's attempt at sealing his legacy before exiting the political scene or an attempt to deviate attention from the governance issues plaguing his government Redemption through legacy?