A few days ago, the President of the Republic spoke once again about the need for electoral reform.
This time round, when interviewed on TVM’s Xtra, she was more specific as to what she would like to achieve. She wants electoral reforms that end political duopoly.
In other words, the president wants reforms that will facilitate the election of smaller parties.
Interestingly, even the mainstream media is picking and propping up the idea of having a third force in parliament. So, today, I will be focusing on this issue.
To start with, it is important to highlight that our system was introduced over 100 years ago with the specific intention to fragment the party system. It facilitates the election of small parties, and, up to 60 years ago, we did have a number of parties represented in parliament.
The electorate chose to support the two big parties over the last part of the last century and the first quarter of the new millennium.
So, the first question we ought to answer is whether we require a new electoral system to ensure the election of smaller parties.
There is a wide variety of electoral systems around the world, some of which make it more difficult for small parties and independent candidates to win a seat.
The 'First Past the Post' system in the UK springs to mind straight away. The single-member plurality system, as it is known, elects one member in each constituency.
According to the Duverger’s law, a single-member plurality system such as the one used in the UK would eventually lead to a two-party system. Well, guess what? In the UK’s parliament there are no fewer than 13 political parties and 11 independent MPs.
What is the point of mentioning this, one might ask. The point is that, no matter what electoral system is in use, the electorate is sovereign and makes its choices as it pleases. The duopoly we have in Malta is simply a reflection of the choices made by the electorate at the polling stations.
Can an electoral reform enhance the chances of small parties? Of course it can. As with the gender mechanism introduced in the last general election, the two main political parties may agree on affirmative action to address the small parties’ representation issue.
We have heard many times from different sources that a national threshold should be introduced. This is something that can be done but let us be clear about this…. Nowhere in countries using the Proportional Representation - Single Transferable Vote does a national threshold exist. The threshold exists in the respective districts. In our case it is 16.6%.
In my first article in this series, I had suggested a reduction in the number of electoral districts from 13 to seven (six in Malta, and Gozo), in which 10 MPs are elected in Malta and seven in Gozo.
We cannot allow a small party to elect a single MP by means of the national threshold and disturb the stability of government- Hermann Schiavone
This reform alone would reduce the threshold from the current 16.6% to 9.09% in Malta and to 12.5% in Gozo. This would be a good start.
The small parties would definitely push for a national quota in any reform debate. Let us, for the sake of the argument, assume that the two major parties agree to this, what should be the magic number? Five per cent? Maybe.
Such a reform cannot, however, be taken in isolation. As a country, we have to ensure that our system produces stable governments. We cannot allow a small party to elect a single member in the House by means of the national threshold and disturb the stability of government.
To clarify my statement, let me put forward a scenario. Party A elects 33 seats while Party B elects 32 seats. Party C does not elect any MPs from any district but gains five per cent of the national vote and, therefore, will be entitled to have one seat in parliament. What happens if Party C decides to not support Party A (the party with a majority)?
To overcome this problem there is a simple solution. We need to introduce what is known as the Premio Maggioranza. As the name implies, the party obtaining a majority is given ‘a present’, in this case top-up seats to ensure the country will have a stable government.
The ‘top-up seats’ amendment is not the only reform that will have to be looked at.
The current system only triggers the gender mechanism in the event of two parties elected in parliament. As I have explained in my previous article, the mechanism needs to go back to the discussion table, if not to the drawing board.
The small parties’ possible election makes it imperative to have a holistic discussion.
I am very pleased to be noticing this new interest in the country to reform our electoral system. The list of reforms that can be discussed is endless.
We just have to get on with it.
Hermann Schiavone holds a doctorate in political science.