Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil today urged the government to accept the decision taken by the constitutional court, which granted two additional seats to the Nationalist Party following a court case instituted by the PN.
“We have spent two out of five years in Opposition with two fewer seats that we should have,” he told the media.
When it was pointed out to him that the government has already given notice of appeal, Dr Busuttil said that while every party involved in a court case has a right to do so, yet emphasised that two years have passed with the PN having two less seats then it should.
Asked whether the court could have decided to have two government MPs removed from the House instead of adding two more PN MPs, Dr Busuttil said that this was the decision taken by the court and he respects it.
Dr Busuttil said that now it is up to the Electoral Commission to decide which two Nationalist MPs are to be elected to the House of Representatives. This decision must be taken based on the overall results in all electoral districts, not just the two that were contested (the 8th and 13th). He said that the two seats should be allocated immediately.
Asked about the PL's statement saying that the election result is based on proportionality, Dr Busuttil said that the court judgment said that without a doubt the 2013 general election does not reflect the actual vote of the Maltese people in respect to the proportional representation system adopted in the Maltese election process.
In reply, the government said that the Opposition has enough seats to satisfy the proportionality system adopted in the Maltese election process.
The government has every right to appeal the judgment given today.
It said that any case that is under appeal means that the judgment given by the first court is on hold until a decision is taken by the Court of Appeal.
Court judgment