The public registry last year acknowledged 47 divorces obtained abroad, almost one a week, former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon said yesterday.
In a press conference organised by the pro-divorce movement outside the registry building in Valletta, Mr Falzon said the figure showed that demand for divorce was going up.
Fellow campaigner Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said that by voting yes in the divorce referendum, people would simply be extending a civil right which, when granted abroad, was already recognised in Malta. Right now, he argued, people wishing to get divorced in Malta were being discriminated against.
In its reaction, Moviment Żwieġ bla Divorzju said the “Divorce without Reason” movement was being dishonest by failing to say how many divorces registered locally were between foreign nationals residing in Malta. Neither was it saying that Maltese courts were obliged to recognise court decisions taken overseas, as courts abroad were obliged to recognise Maltese court decisions.