The gender corrective mechanism, a mechanism which was introduced ahead of the most recent general election with the intent of having more women present in the Maltese parliament, "has failed", European Parliament President and Nationalist Party MEP Roberta Metsola stated in a social media post on Monday.

Metsola remarked that the mechanism in question had noble aims but that the way it has been implemented means that it has become a tool which actively works against women candidates.

"It has become a smokescreen used to manipulate statistics at the expense of women," she said.

The gender corrective mechanism allocates up to twelve additional seats in parliament if a certain threshold of the under-represented gender is not met.

The European Parliament President continued that there are different things which can be discussed with the aim of improving the situation, such as gender balanced ballot lists, "but ultimately, you should be in Parliament because people voted for you to be there". She commented that such a principle should be at the basis of any system.

She said that if one wants to make a real difference, then it is time for a mature discussion regarding why Malta remains the only European Union member state without a full-time parliament.

She continued that discussions should also be held regarding allowing MPs to have access to researchers, as well as "on fixing political party financing models in a way that stops parties competing with charities to raise funds".

Metsola concluded that if one wants to raise the level of politics in Malta, then the discussion needs to "be moved away from the point-scoring, tribalism, and hyper-partisanship we see at every level". She added that doing so is "the only way we can move forward together as a country".