Editorial

It was highly significant that in his resignation statement in the House of Representatives on March 22, outgoing Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami told MPs that although he would no longer be with them, he would rejoice on the day when they managed to reach agreement on the electoral system and all other aspects of the Constitution.

He said there were a number of areas where greater unity needed to be instilled, without destroying diversity of opinion.

Dr Fenech Adami was first elected Prime Minister in 1987, weeks after a constitutional amendment removed the major problem which had yielded an anomalous result in the 1981 election, with the party winning the minority of popular votes securing the majority of seats in parliament.

That stop-gap solution was somewhat improved upon in 1996 when it was agreed that in a situation where only candidates from two political parties are elected to the House, the party obtaining the relative majority of votes will be assured of a majority in the House.

But problems remain. In a nutshell, the constitutional amendments on majority rule will not apply if candidates from more than two parties are elected to parliament. Malta may, thus, still end up with a minority party having a majority of parliamentary seats. The danger is real and it will be present for as long as the allocation of parliamentary seats is based on electoral boundaries and not a system of strict proportionality. And that is not the only anomaly.

The problems Dr Fenech Adami may have been referring to are not restricted to the electoral system either.

Another issue, one which the new Prime Minister must have grappled with over the past few days, is over the appointment of the President. A formula is needed to bring about consensus, where this is possible, on the appointment of the highest post in the country, the symbol of unity and the guardian of the Constitution. Here again, an attempt was made by the Fenech Adami administration to improve matters through proposals in the White Paper called The Change Continues but, like the proposed constitutional amendments on the electoral system, draft legislation never made it through the House.

Also ripe for revisiting are the constitutional provisions on non-alignment and the ban on ship repair facilities to military vessels "of the two superpowers", provisions which have been overtaken by time.

There are several other sections of the Constitution that need updating, some important, some minor, such as the manner of appointment of constitutional bodies - including a definition of "consultation" - and the procedures of the House, particularly the quorum requirement.

Clearly, the government and the opposition should heed Dr Fenech Adami's parting shot before these shortcomings cause a crisis. Maybe the new President, Dr Fenech Adami himself, could take the initiative to carry on what was started by the so-called Sibtijiet Flimkien talks in the early 1980s, followed by the talks by the parliamentary select committee and then the Gonzi Commission.

The democratic game, ultimately, depends on the players, but there should be no grey areas in its rules.