Democratic common sense

In his article on January 8, Political Sixth Sense, Labour Leader Joseph Muscat depicted three possible options we could choose if Malta were to be awarded a sixth European Parliamentary seat. Of the three options, he said he's for the one whereby "the candidate who places de facto sixth in June's elections could be Malta's sixth MEP when and if the Lisbon Treaty finally comes into force".

Without telling us where, when and how, Dr Muscat announced that AD "agrees and has called for a parliamentary resolution to this effect" and he would move this in Parliament.

What is worrying in this is that we have a leader of a major political party who seems willing to disregard the basic principles of democracy, the rule of law, the will of the electorate and mathematics for his own purely partisan political advantage.

Dr Muscat suggests that the sixth seat be awarded to the candidate left as a runner-up who, not having gained a quota in any count of the election, happens not to have been eliminated.

Now, he knows full well that in any election for a candidate to be elected he/she must reach a quota that is worked out according to how many seats are to be returned. This is the law. So, according to our electoral system and our electoral law, to decide who should be elected, it makes a lot of difference whether five or six candidates are to be returned, as the larger the number, the lower the quota.

Dr Muscat himself was in fact not elected on the first count in 2004 as the quota to elect five members in the European Parliament was 40,954. Had the contest been for six MEPs, the quota would have been 6,000 less at 35,104 and he would have been elected on the first count.

And yet, as though the number of seats to be returned makes not one iota of difference, Dr Muscat is suggesting that in June we decide who might be our sixth MEP while still counting the votes as if we were electing five.

For a voter, it is quite appalling to see politicians themselves trying to decide who is to be elected. This only happens in less-than-democratic countries. Who is elected should only be decided according to the electorate's vote and the electoral system at law.

What we need for June is the electoral system as we have practised it for decades and that elects MEPs not according to what any politician would wish but according to what the voters wish.

If and when Malta is awarded six European Parliament seats, the same system and the same rules should be used in order to see who our sixth MEP might be, not as wished for by politicians but as voted for by the people themselves and out of fairness with all candidates.

No "sixth" sense is needed in this issue, nor politicians "politically" trying to elect themselves, but democratic common sense and rule-based counting of votes for an eventual sixth European Parliament seat to be decided upon by the electorate and no one else.