Amendments to the Local Councils’ Act were put forward by Justice Minister Tonio Borg last Friday. They are to be debated in Parliament next month and, considering that they are expected to be passed, some of the amendments will already be in force when the next local council elections are held in March.

The amendment regarding the election of the mayor and deputy mayor directly by the people – one of the many that will be put forward – has already stirred Alternattiva Demokratika into saying that the move is earmarked to keep the Green Party or any independent councillor away from occupying the above posts.

Writing in The Malta Independent on Sunday last Sunday, AD chairman Harry Vassallo described the measure as being an example of fear of change which possessed the two other parties. He goes on to say that this is shameful, adding that the system is only workable if a party obtains an absolute majority of votes. Dr Vassallo adds that a party that wins 34 per cent of the vote will have a mayor and deputy mayor to face the onslaught of “a disenfranchised 66 per cent”.

No doubt, Alternattiva will continue to harp on this matter for the days and weeks to come.

What the government is proposing is that the councillor with the largest number of votes elected on behalf of the party that obtains the largest number of seats in the council is automatically elected mayor. The same applies for the post of deputy mayor.

Parties obtaining a relative majority of votes can still win the majority of seats in a local council, and therefore a 3-2, 4-3 or 5-4 scenario does not create any problems. In a way, the argument about a relative majority of votes does not hold water if only two parties have elected councillors because the mayor will still have the support of the majority of the councillors.

The problems AD are envisioning are those that relate to councils where three or more parties are represented on the council. But, again, the proposals to be submitted to Parliament have already taken care of this. Dr Borg in fact said that in councils where none of the political parties obtain a majority of seats – 2-2-1, 3-3-1, 4-4-1 and so on scenarios – the mayors and the deputy mayors will continue to be elected as they have been done since local councils came to be in 1993.

In such circumstances, mayors and their deputies will continue to be chosen at the first council meeting, or later on if no agreement is reached. So, again, there should be no difficulties here where the mayor's election is concerned.

AD’s concern would be justified in cases where a party, say, obtains four seats, a second party three and a third party two seats, a possible scenario that was not dealt with in last Friday’s press conference. In these cases, the mayor would not have the support of the majority of councillors.

What can be done is that, in cases where more than two parties are represented on the council but none of them has an absolute majority of seats, the mayor and deputy mayor continue to be chosen the old way, that is by the councillors themselves.

If three parties have councillors elected and one of the parties has an absolute majority of seats – 3-1-1, 4-2-1 or

5-3-1 etc – then the mayor would be the one that obtains the majority of votes among those elected on behalf of the party with the absolute majority of seats.

The idea to have the mayor directly elected by the electorate – which The Malta Independent suggested last September – is correct because it would be the people themselves who choose their own leader.

But one has to be careful not to create situations whereby the council cannot function to the best of its abilities because ultimately it will be the residents who will suffer most. The amendments to be discussed in Parliament next month must therefore take everything into consideration.