Repubblika has yet to receive any reaction from the government or the Speaker of the House on its proposals for Parliamentary reforms which it had made public last January.

“We will remain committed and provide our contribution so that Parliament would be strengthened and developed into an instrument for the development of our country and democracy.”

“This year marks the first 100 years of Malta’s Parliament. Repubblika considers that this is the right opportunity to take a critical look at this entity and to think about ways we can strengthen it to renew its effectiveness for the democracy of our times.”

“We want a Parliament that considers the interests of all Maltese, a Parliament composed of honest and competent people, a Parliament that does its duty.”

Among the proposals being made, the NGO suggests that the President be directly elected by the electorate for terms that do not coincide with terms of Parliament. “This proposal is not without risks. Candidates to the Presidency will, in most cases, be nominated by political parties and campaigning will quite possibly make it harder for an elected President to eventually enjoy cross-party respect and become a symbol of national unity. Effectively this creates the risk of a ‘shadow chief executive’, a ‘second prime minister’ as it were, which is undesirable. Direct elections, however, provide democratic legitimacy for the office especially as it is given greater powers when engaging with Parliament and the government. There is no dogmatic argument for this approach but a glance at European parliamentary democracies that directly elect their presidents to serve as symbols of national unity shows that direct popular legitimacy and consensus-building are not mutually exclusive.”

It said that the single-term limit for the Presidency should be retained.

Repubblika also proposes that the President no longer be considered a part of Parliament, retaining however the function of signing Acts of Parliament into law. “We propose to make this function more meaningful by empowering the President to refer legislation to the Constitutional Court to ensure the constitutionality of legislation or to push back for reconsideration a law that has been approved by Parliament. A second Parliamentary approval of law would be final.”

Separation of Powers

The NGO also made proposals regarding the separation of powers. It recommends that the President “appoints as Prime Minister the person they believe would be best able to form a government that would enjoy the confidence of Parliament. The President’s first preference should be to seek to fill the position of Prime Minister with a Member of Parliament. However, it should be possible for Parliamentary majorities to recommend to the President the appointment of an individual from outside Parliament to the position of Prime Minister.”

Then, it suggests that the Prime Minister chooses for his cabinet ministers any citizen of Malta and, before the government is sworn in, the Prime Minister must secure a vote of confidence from Parliament. It adds that any MP that is appointed Prime Minister or Minister, is replaced in Parliament by the next candidate eligible for election by “casual election” according to the existing procedure for such elections.

“The Prime Minister and Ministers will be expected to attend Parliamentary debates, particularly where these concern their Ministries, to participate in the debates, to reply to Parliamentary questions and to engage very much as Ministers do now. Except that they would not be entitled to vote in Parliamentary decisions,” Repubblika recommends.

“Members of Parliament who are not Ministers should not work for the government, whether as employees, appointees, ambassadors, consultants, contractors or others.”

“Government or public sector employees who are elected to Parliament are to be put on unpaid leave until the end of their term.”

Resources

Repubblika proposes that the function of MPs becomes full-time and compensated adequately at a salary scale which would be appropriate for professional services in the market.

“Apart from their honoraria, MPs should be compensated for expenses they make in the fulfilment of their duties including inter alia expenses in research, administration, travel, insurance, transportation and similar. Expense claims are to be appropriately monitored and audited for compliance with objective rules.”

They also recommend that MPs would be required to relinquish any private work in employment, consultancy, directorship or other during their term of office. “Any shareholdings or partnerships must be either disposed of or transparently transferred to trustees.”

“At the end of their term of office, MPs should be entitled to a transitional allowance, equivalent to their salary, for one month per year they were in office. The maximum duration of this allowance should be two years. Where a former MP takes up a mandate in another parliament or a public office, the salary which is received from this new function is offset against the transitional allowance. If the MP is simultaneously entitled to an old-age or invalidity pension, they should not receive both, but must choose one or the other.”

Terms of Office

“Under stable conditions, the term of the Parliamentary chamber that has the power to grant or withdraw their confidence in the government is equivalent to the term of office of a government before its mandate is renewed after an election. The current ‘winner takes all’ system weakens the ability of Parliament to influence the conduct of the government in between terms. The same applies to other democratically elected institutions such as local government and (under this model) the President.”

“To this end the following terms of office are proposed for discussion on a fixed-term basis: President - 6 years; Parliament - 5 years; Mayors (and Local Councils) - 4 years with elections held every 2 years on a rotation basis.”

Political Parties

The NGO made a number of proposals for political parties.

It proposes that seats to be filled by election are allocated to political parties in proportion to the votes given to candidates contesting on the ticket for that party nationwide (or in that portion of the nation where elections are being held). Votes for this purpose are the first preference votes cast in a single transferable vote system. That means that if a political party in an election to Parliament gains 55% of the national vote, 55% of the seats in the chamber will be allocated to that party. The seats allocated will be filled by candidates according to their voting performance within their constituencies.”

It suggests that a political party must secure a minimum nationwide threshold of 5% of the national vote to be elected to Parliament. “Any political party that acquires nationwide votes equivalent to a minimum of 5% of the national vote will be guaranteed a number of Parliamentary seats that is proportional to their national vote share. This means that even if no candidate for the hypothetical pink party secures on their own enough votes to be elected from a single constituency, if all the votes secured by candidates in the pink party nationwide put together amount to a number sufficient to elect a Member of Parliament, the system will ensure that one candidate of the pink party is elected.”

It also proposes that political parties be funded by the state to fulfil their function. “Funding is to be allocated according to a formula which takes into account the number of elected officials belonging to that party that are in office at the time. However, funding is to be provided to a more limited extent to political parties that do not have any members in elected office provided these parties meet objective criteria (such as the number of registered members) designed to prevent abuse.”

The NGO said that “it can be argued that political parties should not own TV stations and other media. However, there is little doubt that the media are a huge drain on the resources of political parties and an opportunity to work around financing rules through advertising or contracting of government work. Quite apart from any legislative initiative, political parties should renounce ownership of TV stations and other media, perhaps in exchange for regulated airtime on public broadcasting services. Any such reform must be accompanied by a thorough reform of the regulation of public broadcasting.”