By the grace of God, only 21 out of 294,214 votes cast were directed at Alpha Liberali Demokratiku. This party, with Emmy Bezzina at the one oar of this tiny canoe, obtaining 21 votes (including his own), should be euphoric.
I am of course, referring to Dr Bezzina’s letter (TMID, 13 March) titled “Authentic democracy”, where he bitterly pointed out the unfairness of our electoral system harping on the results of 8 March election and breaking the news that the PN did not obtain a majority of seats and only a handful more of votes over the MLP.
He did not specify but I think the insignificant difference between the two parties amounted to 1,580 number one votes. Would he have been happier if the PN obtained 50 per cent plus one? He would probably argue that it would have had a majority of one. How significant would that one be then? How very consoling would that have been to the MLP having found itself on the opposition benches by a mere one vote!
Our constitution was amended with over the 66 per cent majority required in Parliament in order to avoid circumstances which could lead to chaos should the two major parties come that close. And close enough they were after the 8 March vote. The situation was anticipated, way back, the formula kicked in, a crisis was avoided and both parties and the vast majority of the “unmanipulated citizens” have accepted it. I heard of no cases of “nausea”.
Dr Bezzina also complained about Dr Sant’s “speedy” resignation and the Electoral Commission’s “speedy” reporting to the President. I know of a vast majority made up of both Labour and Nationalist supporters who would agree that Dr Sant’s resignation was not speedy enough and probably should have occurred several years ago. With regards to the Electoral Commission, I should add my compliments for its efficiency, speed (under the circumstances) and an accurate and factual report leaving no doubts in all party officials’ minds.
Dr Bezzina concludes his precious contribution by stating that “We have an aberration of electoral justice which must be legally and satisfactorily remedied...” Again Dr Bezzina forgets that the highest institution legally authorised to amend our constitution has done just that with more than the required majority in Parliament and which bound our system to a formula which in this last election worked like a charm.
Simply because the number of votes garnered by the ALD do not make any difference in any percentage calculations even to the fourth decimal point, does not mean that the formula is not fair.
Since Dr Sant resigned prematurely thus creating a vacancy, Dr Bezzina should seriously consider throwing in his hat in the ensuing race for a new leader. With his type of logic, he will be the frontrunner from day one and, since we do have an “authentic democracy” the MLP would be duty bound to list his name as an authentic contender for the job.
I sincerely hope that the MLP leader’s election will be “unmanipulated” for Dr Bezzina’s sake.
Joe Martinelli
London, Ontario
Canada