Former Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer is fronting a campaign for a reform of the electoral system launched by civil society group Il-Kollettiv, that would ensure a “truly representative democracy” by introducing a minimum threshold.

Signatures from the public will be collected by the NGO via an online petition hosted on the Maltese Parliament website, a statement on Wednesday read. The NGO called for the immediate opening of a consultation process, aiming to carry out the reform within this legislature.

Now deputy Secretary of the NGO, Engerer said that through this petition, Il-Kollettiv seeks to give a representation to the 143,028 voters who chose to vote for independent and smaller parties – or to abstain – in the last European Parliament elections held on 8 June.

“These amount to 38.6% of the electorate; out of these, 12.7% voted for independent or smaller candidates,” he said, adding that his confirms how the Maltese voter’s profile is changing as times go by, and that there are shifts in opinion from one election to the other.

“However, despite these shifts in the electorate’s preferences, the electoral law hasn’t changed: under the current system, candidates require 16.7% of the district vote to be elected,” Engerer said.

Engerer, the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Wellbeing Claire Azzopardi Lane and activist Omar Rababah presented the petition on behalf of the group.

The petition calls on the House of Representatives to immediately, during this legislature, launch a wide-ranging consultation process on the electoral system, discuss, as a matter of principle, the introduction of a national threshold that guarantees a full representation of the Maltese electorate, and initiate the full process leading to an electoral reform, which presents a fairer system as from the next general elections.

“A democracy is only strong when it represents the smaller voices, and not only at election time. An analysis of the votes achieved by the independent and smaller parties will show that, at 12.7%, it will equate to 10 of the 79 seats in national Parliament,” the activists said.

They continued that in reality, however, the present system works in favour of the two big parties, and this means that no independent or third party will ever be elected.

“At every election, various representatives of the two major parties insist that voting for a smaller party is equal to wasting your vote. After 143,028 voters chose not to vote for either government or opposition parties, it’s high time that they are given a fair representation in our democracy,” the statement read.

“Through this petition, the public has the chance to show that it wants to be represented in the running of the country,” the activists said.

The public can access and sign the petition in Maltese or in English.

Individuals and groups who would like to take part in the campaign can email il-Kollettiv on [email protected].