The Court of Appeal has overturned a judgement by the Constitutional Court in the first instance regarding the gender corrective mechanism in Parliament, Independent Candidate Arnold Cassola has said.

The 'corrective mechanism' will allow - in case only two parties are elected to Parliament - the addition of up to 12 seats (six on each side of the house) if one gender gets fewer than 40% of seats.

Cassola had said that the rights of voters will be broken through the amendments. "For example if the situation arises where 12 women would need to be added to Parliament, then those with the highest votes will be selected to fill those seats. If the candidate I voted for would have the sixth highest number of votes and would not be from the PN or PL, that candidate would be skipped and the person in 13th place then from the PN or PL would be elected instead of her. This means our votes to these candidates would be thrown away," he had said in April. He argued that this was discriminatory against those not from the PN or PL.

The Constitutional Court had found that Cassola lacked judicial interest needed for the case. This has now been overturned.

Now, Cassola said, the Court of Appeal has overturned this interpretation of the first court and deemed that Cassola had a direct interest in this Gender quota mechanism, meaning that the case can proceed to be heard by the Constitutional Court.

Arnold Cassola said: "I am happy that justice has prevailed".

As a result of this appeal decision, Cassola won the right to object to the mechanism, and the case will be sent back to First Court to proceed on its merits.