The recent declarations made by the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader on divorce may be leading the country into yet another “us and them” situation, similar to the one we went through when the European Union membership issue was being debated, sources told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
However, matters will not be as clear-cut as they were before the March 2003 referendum that ultimately decided Malta’s fate, which was confirmed in an election held a month later.
That time, Nationalist exponents, including all MPs and top officials, were behind Eddie Fenech Adami in full force as he pushed for Malta to join the EU while, on the Labour side, the higher echelons of the party publicly expressed their support for Alfred Sant’s vision of Malta as a Switzerland in the Mediterranean.
This time, it is more complicated, sources said, because the issue of divorce does not cut between the two sides as cleanly as the European membership issue did.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat has said that he is prepared to propose a law on the introduction of divorce and give his fellow Labour MPs a free vote. On the other hand, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi reiterated the government’s determination to strengthen the family before “giving up” and introducing divorce.
But this does not mean that all Labour MPs and top officials are on the same wavelength as Dr Muscat. And neither does it mean that there are no Nationalist MPs who are in favour of divorce.
In fact, some Labour MPs are known to be vociferously against the introduction of divorce, while some Nationalist MPs have also said, at least in private, that such a possibility should be offered to couples whose marriage has collapsed.
What seems to be clear, at this stage, is that both parties have tacitly agreed that divorce should not be an election issue. And maybe they are doing this to avoid division within their own ranks.
Dr Muscat has himself already stated that the promise of a divorce bill will not form part of Labour’s election manifesto. However, he might face pressure from some quarters to include it. Labour spokesman on education Evarist Bartolo has already publicly suggested that the divorce bill should be part and parcel of Labour’s electoral programme.
On the other hand, Nationalist top officials believe that the introduction of divorce is “inevitable, sooner or later”. It will not happen in this term, but if it is seen that the pressure is mounting for such a provision, then it is possible in the next one, irrespective of who is in government, sources said.
Whether Lawrence Gonzi will offer the possibility of a free vote, seeing that it is a matter of conscience, remains to be seen.
But there is another scenario that could be considered – and this is a referendum, similar to the one we had on European Union membership.
It is still early days, but the possibility that the people will be asked to vote in favour or against divorce exists.
This would perhaps be the ideal scenario. Since neither of the parties is willing – so far – to use divorce as an election issue, then it should be the people who decide separately, and not the MPs, sources said.
Secondly, it would be the practice of democracy at its best, as it would be the people who would decide by popular vote.
The Church could be the biggest stumbling block in the attempts to introduce divorce. With Malta being only one of two countries where divorce is not legal, the Church will be determined to leave things as they are. It will speak publicly against divorce, and it will, in private, seek to put pressure on the corridors of power that matter.
On this, Dr Muscat has already made his position clear, insisting that the state should be secular and that the Labour Party will be close to the Church, but not part of it. The more conservative Dr Gonzi has so far not committed himself.
Yet both political parties want to avoid a situation where their supporters vote for the opponent because of this issue. If, by the time the election comes, it is clear that, irrespective of whether or not divorce is included in any election manifesto, people will be voting for the party that shares the same views on divorce as them, the issue could ultimately decide the election outcome.
There will be Nationalists who want divorce and will therefore vote Labour, and, to a lesser extent – because of Labour’s long years in opposition – Labourites who do not want divorce and vote PN.
In this respect, it will be the Nationalist Party that stands to lose the most, unless it makes its position clearer, sources said.
And this is why the idea of a referendum on divorce is starting to make inroads where it matters.
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