Our electoral system is not biased against women. or any other group for that matter. Academic studies prove that women perform as well as men in elections. There is no bias against women by the electorate and successful female MPs like Giovanna Debono and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca were among the best performers over the years.
The proportional representation – single transferable vote (PR-STV) system returned three males and three females in the last MEP elections. Still, in the Maltese Parliament, women are failing to match the MEPs elections’ success.
Why, one might ask?
The lack of women in Parliament can be attributed to various factors beyond the electoral system. The main reason being that women do not contest in the same proportion as men.
This is not due to parties’ unwillingness. It is rather the parties’ inability to convince more women to stand.
The issue is now being tackled. A technical committee was set up and discussions conducted. There appears to be a general agreement among the parties represented in parliament to rectify the situation with affirmative action as soon as possible.
To do so, the present electoral system needs to be amended and this requires the support of both sides of the House.
While achieving gender balance is the main issue being discussed, the electoral system would benefit greatly if reformed holistically. Although proposals for reforms can be taken and addressed separately, it would be more appropriate to tackle them collectively.
Achieving gender balance in the House should not be the sole purpose of the exercise. The reformed system ought to seek to give the under-represented gender, women at this stage, the opportunity to be considered for a cabinet post. We should not be content with just a gender-balanced Parliament. We have to ensure a gender-balanced cabinet.
The easiest way would be by not allowing candidates to stand in two electoral districts
With the current electoral system the composition of parliament is only known weeks after a general election. This is because the MPs who are elected in two districts will have to vacate one and the whole process of which seats are to be vacated and the subsequent casual elections take a number of weeks to be completed.
The corrective mechanism to increase seats for the under-represented gender can only kick in after casual elections are held.
In order to give every elected MP the opportunity to be considered for a cabinet post, casual elections have to be eliminated and the full complement of MPs known by the end of the counting process which now, with the introduction of electronic counting is possible to complete within 24 hours after the closure of polling stations.
How is it possible to eliminate casual elections?
The easiest way would be by not allowing candidates to stand in two electoral districts. There may be resistance by some quarters for such a move. This concern may be overcome by reducing the number of districts from 13 districts to seven, six in Malta electing 10 MPs each and one in Gozo electing 5 MPs. Thus all MPs apart from Gozo would be effectively contesting two districts which would be merged into one bigger district. Candidates will only be allowed to contest in one district.
There are other advantages for such a system, apart from eliminating dual candidacies and casual elections. The quota would be reduced from the current 16.67 per cent to 9.09 per cent, making the threshold lower for one to win a seat. Furthermore, localities such as Naxxar and Fgura will not be split into two districts as happens nowadays. The system will also ensure there will be greater national proportionality.
There is another route for eliminating casual elections and have the full complement of the House the day after a general election.
The current system would remain the same with 13 electoral districts and dual candidacies permitted. The decision on which district an MP elected in two districts would vacate will require an amendment. Instead of the parties deciding which district is vacated, this would be decided by the performance of the MP in both districts. The vacated seat will be the one in which the MP polled the fewest first preferences.
Furthermore, the system should rank candidates in a party list. The current count back system for filling casual vacancies is very unfair and a candidate who did well in an election and ended up runner-up in a list is penalised at the casual election stage. Therefore, the introduction of the best performer principle ought to be considered. This would rank candidates in a party list according to their performance. The candidate to fill the vacated seat will then be the next one on the list.
After this stage in the process, the best performers of the under-represented gender will be declared elected irrespective of which district they contested.
While this system ensures the announcement of the full complement of the House at the end of the counting process, it does not address the other matters of nationwide proportionality, no splitting of localities and a reduced threshold. I therefore prefer the first option of having seven districts.
I am a strong supporter of having a gender-balanced parliament, but our country will not benefit by only achieving that.
Our political system will be much richer if we achieve a gender-balanced cabinet not just Parliament.
Hermann Schiavone is a Nationalist MP and electoral systems’ analyst.