Opposition Leader Alfred Sant yesterday categorically denied that an agreement had been reached between the two major political parties on constitutional amendments to the electoral system, as suggested by the Department of Information on Monday.

In a statement, Dr Sant said it is not true that a meeting had been held last Friday and that an agreement had been reached.

The government had, on Monday night, stated that last month the Nationalist Party had submitted a proposal that had been agreed to by the MLP.

According to a statement issued by the Department of Information, the PN had incorporated three main points in its proposal, which included that Gozo should remain as a separate district, the adoption of the principle of proportionality, as well as the rejection of the MLP’s proposal regarding the principle of relative majority.

The first point agreed to, according to the DOI, is that Gozo remained as one electoral district irrespective of the number of voters.

The second point “agreed upon” is that as long as there are only two parties represented in Parliament, there will always be strict proportionality that faithfully reflects the difference between the number of votes obtained by the majority and minority parties.

The DOI said the third point “agreed upon” is that under no circumstances should the party which obtains a relative majority of 45 per cent be given the right to have an absolute majority of seats (a majority prize). This was a proposal made by the MLP but which the party had agreed to discard, the DOI said.

In his statement yesterday, Dr Sant said that earlier this year, the PN had unilaterally stopped discussions that were taking place between the parties to ensure that the number of parliamentary seats won by a party reflected the number of votes gained. The Nationalist Party had revealed all the confidential details on what had been said in the discussions between the two parties, Dr Sant said.

Later, the government had presented a motion to retain Gozo as one electoral district irrespective of the number of voters, a motion that required a two-thirds majority to be passed by parliament.

The opposition said that it agreed that Gozo should remain as one district, but could not vote in favour of the amendment unless another clause was included to retain the other electoral districts as they had already been drawn up. Dr Sant said the government had not agreed with this proposal.

Last August, the PN had verbally indicated that it would be ready to agree with the Labour Party’s suggestion to retain the electoral districts as they are today, on condition that another clause is included in order to ensure that the proportion of first-count votes obtained is reflected in the number of seats in parliament if only two parties were represented.

Following discussions regarding this package, the Labour leadership was ready to agree on this, since it had always insisted on this issue, added Dr Sant.

The PN had sent a memorandum of understanding with the details of the proposals and a small revision was carried out last month, he said.

Dr Sant stated that following internal discussion, the Labour party agreed with the new proposals when they were discussed on 27 November and the Nationalist Party was immediately informed, said Dr Sant.

He however denied that there had been an agreement between the two parties last Friday.

In Monday’s statement, the DOI said that the Nationalist Party’s proposal, based on the three issues mentioned earlier, had been accepted. The discussions between deputy Labour leader Michael Falzon and Nationalist Party general secretary Joe Saliba were bound by confidentiality until the parties agreed otherwise.

Last Friday, the DOI said, Dr Falzon had expressed the party’s consent “in principle” to Mr Saliba.

The DOI statement said that once the Labour Party had accepted the principle of proportionality and “withdrew its proposal for a majority prize, all elements are available for an agreement to be reached”.

Once the PN’s proposal on proportionality was agreed upon, the DOI said that electoral districts and their configuration became irrelevant in the context of the majority of seats that a government obtains. Therefore, the districts could remain unchanged because they would neither help nor prejudice the majority of seats won by the party that is elected to government.

The DOI said that the agreement had not been made public due to the confidential nature of the discussions, but it felt it needed to clarify some issues following Dr Sant’s announcement last Sunday.

The agreement has not yet been discussed among the Nationalist Party parliamentary group, but the PN leader is expected to recommend his approval regarding the Nationalist Party’s proposal, the DOI said.

Meanwhile, Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green Party (AD) maintained that the agreement reached between the MLP and PN is anti-democratic.

AD issued a statement yesterday, saying it is shameful that the two big parties have agreed to make Gozitans’ votes weigh less than those of the Maltese.

This so-called agreement between Labour and Nationalists with regard to Gozo is a confirmation that both parties do not believe that Gozitans deserve the appropriate representation in parliament, said AD.

It is evident that in order to suit the two big parties’ interests, Gozitans will be treated as second-class citizens. This is unacceptable in a democracy where everyone should be guaranteed fair representation.

AD chairperson Harry Vassallo said that even though the PN and MLP have agreed to keep Gozo as one district, they are not considering increasing Gozo’s representation, given the increase in the number of people who will be voting there.

“Once again both the PN and the MLP’s hunger for power has obscured the possibility of fair representation in our electoral system,” said Dr Vassallo.

The changes that guarantee strict proportionality between the number of votes and the actual seats in parliament in the case that only two parties get elected, does in no way guarantee proportionality between the number of votes and the number of seats in parliament on a national level. In fact, the threshold for a party to be elected in parliament remains 16 per cent of votes on one district, said AD.

In practice, this means the PN and MLP are giving themselves strict proportionality while taking away other parties’ proportional representation, unless they reach the 15 per cent threshold on one district.

AD deputy chairperson Stephen Cachia said this agreement does not eliminate the risk of perverse consequences, should more than two parties get elected to parliament.

“This is an act of cowardice. If both PN and MLP had the courage with regard to their professed democratic credentials, then they should guarantee strict proportionality for everyone, not just themselves. This could easily be achieved if there is agreement on a national quota,” said Mr Cachia.