Yesterday following eight days of debate, the Second Reading of the Divorce Bill was approved by a large majority in the Maltese Parliament. Out of a total of 69 MPs in the House of Representatives, 44 MPs voted in favour, 13 against and 12 abstained. This means a majority of 77% of those who did not abstain and of 64% of all MPs in the House. The reading of the result was greeted with applause.
While on the Government side, twelve MPs voted in favour, twelve against and four abstained, on the Opposition side, thirty-two MPs voted in favour, one against and one abstained. The Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi was among those who voted against the Bill.
Shortly before the vote was taken, Dr Pullicino Orlando called on all the Government MPs to respect the electorate’s decision. “A referendum is the clearest expression of common will – if we do not honour the result of the people’s vote, we would be indicating we’re ready to ignore their clear expression of solidarity with an ever growing minority,” he said.
Yesterday the Prime Minister Dr Gonzi said he chose to be consistent with his anti-divorce stance and to vote against the Divorce Bill given that he predicted correctly that a parliamentary majority would approve the bill anyway. He said that Maltese democracy was working well and that as Prime Minister his duty was “to see that the referendum result is respected”, adding that he was “proud” that the vote in Parliament had reflected this. Speaking to the media after the vote in parliament, he said it was his duty as Prime Minister to ensure the democratic process was respected in all its aspects and that the law passed through Parliament, as he had predicted that it would.
Dr Gonzi expressed doubts on whether “legal difficulties” with the Divorce Bill that had been raised by a number of Government MPs could be overcome. During the debate earlier in Parliament, he had justified his ‘No’ vote saying that, had he been in favour of divorce, he would still have voted against the Bill, since it did not give the electorate what it voted for, particularly in regard to the guarantee of maintenance. The issue depends on a section in the referendum question which says that maintenance would be guaranteed and children would be protected under the divorce legislation.
“I will leave it up to legal experts, but the way I’m seeing things today, no amendment will be able to guarantee adequate maintenance,” said Dr Gonzi, challenging all the lawyer MPs to force people to meet their maintenance payments obligations.
The proponent of the Bill, Government MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, refuted the Prime Minister’s argument, arguing that the referendum question guaranteed the right to maintenance rather than the payment of the maintenance itself – a point which had already been raised and debated during the referendum campaign. People who failed to pay maintenance ended up in prison, he said.
During yesterday’s voting process in parliament, MPs had to stand up to be counted. The House of Representatives departed from the usual voting system, which requirs a simple verbal confirmation of the vote, and agreed to have MPs stand up when their voting preference, (Yes, No or Abstain), was called out.
The Second Reading will be followed by the Committee Stage, during which a group of MPs from both sides of the House will scrutinise the technical details of the Bill considering various of amendments put forward by both sides before a final vote is taken on the Bill on the Third Reading. This phase in the parliamentary process started shortly after the voting was concluded yesterday. The parties have come to an informal agreement on most of the changes to be made to the bill, subject to a potential sticking point, as indicated by the Prime Minister on the question of the guarantee of maintenance.
In his reaction to the vote, Opposition leader Dr Joseph Muscat said that Dr Gonzi was the first Prime Minister to ignore a referendum result, accusing him of going against the will of the people. “This is inexcusable,” Dr Muscat said. The Labour leader rejected the claim that Dr Vassallo and Marie Louise Coleiro Preca (who had abstained) had also ignored the will of the people, saying that if it were not for his party, the vote would not have passed.
How the MPs voted
IN FAVOUR (44 votes)
PN:
- David Agius
- Robert Arrigo
- Joseph Cassar
- Franco Debono
- Mario de Marco
- Joseph Falzon
- Censu Galea
- Michael Gonzi
- Karl Gouder
- Jesmond Mugliett
- Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
- Chris Said
PL:
- Carmelo Abela
- Chris Agius
- Anthony Agius Decelis
- Evarist Bartolo
- Owen Bonnici
- Leo Brincat
- Stefan Buontempo
- Charles Buhagiar
- Luciano Busuttil
- Chris Cardona
- Justyne Caruana
- Gino Cauchi
- Helena Dalli
- Joe Debono Grech
- Michael Falzon
- Anglu Farrugia
- Michael Farrugia
- Noel Farrugia
- Roderick Galdes
- Gavin Gulia
- Jose’ Herrera
- Charles Mangion
- Joe Mizzi
- Joseph Muscat
- Silvio Parnis
- Marlene Pullicino
- Anton Refalo
- Joseph M Sammut
- Alfred Sant
- George Vella
- Karmenu Vella
- Anthony Zammit
AGAINST (13 votes)
PN:
- Frederick Azzopardi
- Jason Azzopardi
- Tonio Borg
- Giovanna Debono
- Louis Deguara
- Dolores Cristina
- Beppe Fenech Adami
- Austin Gatt
- Lawrence Gonzi
- Carm Mifsud Bonnici
- Edwin Vassallo
- Francis Zammit Dimech
- Adrian Vassallo.
- Francis Agius
- Charlo Bonnici
- Jean Pierre Farrugia
- Tonio Fenech
- Mario Galea
- Peter Micallef
- Philip Mifsud
- Clyde Puli
- George Pullicino
- Stephen Spiteri
- Ninu Zammit
- Marie Louise Coleiro Preca
PL:
ABSTENTIONS (12 votes)
PN:
PL:
