Euro Parliament elections law drafted

The law laying down the guidelines of how the elections for the European Parliament would be held has been drafted, Information Technology and Investments minister Austin Gatt said yesterday.

The draft had been prepared by the minister, who up to the election was minister of justice and local government.

"There are two political decisions that have to be taken for the draft to be complete.

"The government must decide whether serving MPs can also be members of the European Parliament and whether Malta and Gozo would be one whole district or whether the islands would be divided into five districts, each returning one MEP," Dr Gatt said.

Such a decision was expected to be taken over the coming days.

Sources said it was likely the government would decide that serving MPs cannot be MEPs because the schedule of the House of Representatives would often coincide with that of the European Parliament.

The other issue over whether Malta would be considered as one district or whether there would be five districts is less clear.

If Malta is considered as one district, with about 280,000 votes, a candidate would have to poll close to 47,000 votes to be elected, assuming a high turnout as in general elections, as the quota would be one sixth of all votes cast plus one.

If Malta is divided into five districts, each of which would have about 56,000 votes, the quota would be half of the votes cast plus one, which in a high turnout would be around 28,000 votes.

Sources said there were advantages and disadvantages with both systems. With Malta as a single district, there would be close to 47,000 wasted votes, while if Malta was divided into five districts, there would be a total of about 140,000 wasted votes because a single quota is always wasted on every district.

Another issue with the five district option is that the Nationalist Party is likely to elect MEPs always from the north while the MLP would always elect its MEPs from the south - meaning that PN supporters in the south can never have an MEP, just as MLP supporters in the north would not have an MEP.

Several have already expressed an interest in contesting the European Parliament elections, being held in June next year.

MPs, prominent personalities and former politicians are among those being mentioned as likely candidates for the five seats Malta will have. Former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon yesterday confirmed to The Times that he too was interested in being a Euro MP.

Possible candidates already mentioned include Arnold Cassola from Alternattiva Demokratika, Labour candidates Sharon Ellul Bonici, Edward Zammit Lewis and Keith Grech, Nationalist candidates Michael Frendo and Michael Axiaq, Iva Movement spokesman David Casa and Media.link journalist Karl Stagno Navarra.

Salaries of MEPs are linked to the pay structure of the local parliament, but each MEP has a set of special allowances.

Discussions are currently ongoing with a view to harmonise the pay packet of Euro MPs to a level of about 100,000 euros (some Lm40,000) annually.

Elections to the European Parliament are held every five years, under the single transferable vote system, which is the system in use in general elections in Malta.