The year that is about to start will bring with it a new President of the Republic.
Or not?
We are still not sure that there will be an agreement between the government and the opposition on who is to replace George Vella as Malta’s 11th Head of State.
Last Wednesday, the President delivered what he said was his last speech on Republic Day as his “presidency ends in April of next year”, but the situation is still uncertain.
The President himself had expressed his concern about the current impasse, given that the way his successor will be appointed now requires the support of two-thirds of the House of Representatives.
Vella was the last President to be given the role needing just the backing of the majority of our MPs. Changes that have been made since his appointment necessitate that the government and the opposition must now agree on his replacement.
Article 48 (1) of the Constitution, as amended in 2020, says the following: “There shall be a President of Malta who shall be appointed by Resolution supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members of the House… if the Resolution is not supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members of the House, the person occupying the office of the President of Malta shall, in any circumstance, remain in office until the Resolution is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members of the House.”
In other words, the first 10 Presidents of Malta, up to and including Vella, were appointed via a simple majority, which in practice meant that he or she needed just the support of the government. There were cases when the opposition joined the government to back the appointment, but this was not required and, when this support was lacking, the President was installed anyway. But, from now onwards, the Head of State must be someone who has the backing of two-thirds of the House.
Unless the government has a two-thirds majority in Parliament, the President must be appointed with the support of the Opposition. As things stand now, the Labour government does not have a two-thirds majority.
Less than four months away from the end of President Vella’s term on 4 April, the government and the opposition are still miles away from reaching an agreement on his successor.
The Nationalist Party seems inclined to have, as President, someone who is not coming from politics or has not held a political post for at least a decade.
Last September, there were reports that the PN was mulling the idea of proposing three individuals who, at present, are not politicians, although two of them had a role in each of the bigger parties in the past.
One of the PN’s choices is Dolores Cristina, a former PN minister (social policy and education) who, for nearly 10 years since her retirement from politics in 2013, served as Acting President when the incumbents – George Abela, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and George Vella – were away from the country.
The other two are Magistrate Joe Mifsud who, long before being appointed to the Bench, served as international secretary for the Labour Party, and Marica Cassar, who was communications officer during George Abela’s tenure as President, and is now Caritas’ press relations officer.
No names have leaked from the Labour Party front. Whether its decision to have a non-politician serve as Acting President for the last 18 months is an indication of its plans for the future remains to be seen.
Since June 2022, University Professor Frank Bezzina took over the role of Acting President when Vella was away from the country. A month later, he was the one who signed the IVF bill into law when Vella had reservations on the matter, and has since been always picked for the role when Vella travelled abroad.
Bezzina, pro-Rector for International Development and Quality Assurance at the UAM, had been appointed not without controversy. Hours after his name was made public, the Nationalist Opposition had said the government had announced his nomination without the consultation Prime Minister Robert Abela had promised Opposition Leader Bernard Grech.
The government, for its part, had published a letter it had sent to Grech in which Abela had sought Grech’s opinion for which, the government said, no reply had been received.
It is likely that the two sides will lock horns again in the coming weeks and months as Vella’s five-year term nears the end, and maybe beyond too.
Asked about this possibility by The Malta Independent on Sunday last April, Vella had expressed his concern. “I hope that there will be an agreement on a person, so we do not end up like we did in the matter of the Ombudsman,” he had said. In this case, the two sides of the House had squabbled for nearly two years before a new Ombudsman was appointed, with Anthony Mifsud staying on after his term expired until an agreement was found.
“As head of state, I hope that there are talks from now so that if there is someone in the minds of who has to appoint my successor in a year, there is time for them to discuss and agree. I don’t want to see this office be blocked due to the lack of agreement on a person,” Vella had said eight months ago.
“Then what happens? Based on what the law says now the President would have to stay in his position until a successor is chosen, which is something that, I can assure you, I don’t want to go through,” he had continued.
Whether Vella can be “forced” to stay on is, however, “questionable”, according to former European Court of Human Rights judge Giovanni Bonello.
In comments to this newspaper, Judge Bonello had said: “I don’t really see the concerns raised by George Vella. At the end of the five-year period, he can resign his Office. Kings, popes, prime ministers, chief justices, presidents of democratic states, MPs resign, and so can a president. He cannot be forced to function if he does not desire to,” Bonello had said.
“The Constitution in fact lays down that at the expiry of the five-year term, the Office of the President becomes vacant. It also becomes vacant if a President resigns. The vacancy is to be filled (temporarily) by a person appointed by the Prime Minister after consulting the Leader of the Opposition, or in default, by the Speaker of the House,” he had said.
So, in a nutshell, Vella can choose either way – if no agreement is found for his successor, he can leave, or he can decide to continue until the two sides of the House come to terms, becoming the first President to serve more than five years. If he chooses to leave, then an Acting President (Bezzina?) will be asked to step in.
President Vella, in his latest public outings, has referred to activities as being “his last”, including on Wednesday for the Republic Day event.
It would not be the first time that an Acting President is appointed for a period that lasts longer than a few days while the incumbent is abroad.
Albert Hyzler served as Acting President for 50 days straddling 1981 and 1982, in between President Anton Buttigieg and President Agatha Barbara.
Paul Xuereb, then, served as Acting President for over two years between 1987 and 1989, in between President Barbara and President Censu Tabone.
On these two occasions, they were times when the appointment of the President coincided with the general election.
Anton Buttigieg’s five-year term as President ended on 27 December, 1981, just two weeks after the tumultuous national election which saw Labour obtain more seats in Parliament in spite of receiving fewer votes. Hyzler was appointed ad interim until Barbara was selected as Labour’s choice in February 1982, with the Nationalist Party at the time boycotting parliamentary sittings as a result of the constitutional crisis that erupted after the 1981 election result.
Barbara’s own term came to an end in February 1987, just three months before the 1987 election took place. Rather than appoint a President, the Labour government had then chosen to name an Acting President, Pawlu Xuereb, who retained his place even after the PN won the 1987 election, until he was replaced by Censu Tabone.
Those were also times when, as explained earlier, a President needed just a simple majority in Parliament to be appointed Head of State.
It will be different in 2024.