The PN parliamentary group has blocked Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera from being appointed as Malta’s next Chief Justice. The motion to appoint her as the head of Malta’s judiciary, presented by the Prime Minister, failed to reach the required two-thirds parliamentary majority of 53 votes in favour as both sides of the Parliament argued intensely instead of reaching a consensus.

The motion obtained 39 votes in favour and 34 against. 

During the discussion on her official nomination, PN leader Alex Borg declared that the Nationalist Party will be voting against her appointment in light of the arguments between both parliamentary groups and out of respect towards the judiciary.

“If there is no agreement on a nomination, that name should have never reached here. It is your fault we’ve gotten to this stage; an appointment like this deserves unity, not muscle-flexing as you’re used to,” Borg stated while addressing Prime Minister Abela.

In reply, the Prime Minister stated that “despite talking for 20 minutes, you haven’t given a single reason as to why you are voting against Scerri Herrera” and demanded to be given a reason against her being appointed as Mark Chetcuti’s successor.

Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti celebrates his 68th birthday today, which as per the Constitution of Malta means that he has reached retirement age.

In this heated discussion, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard stated that Scerri Herrera has everything it takes to take up this prestigious role.

One of the plenty political jabs and accusations dished out during the debate was that Consuelo Scerri Herrera was Alex Borg’s first choice to be the next Chief Justice until “PN’s extremist faction” – the NGO Repubblika, together with former PN MP Jason Azzopardi – opposed her nomination. Prime Minister Robert Abela made this declaration and noted that Alex Borg wasn’t denying this claim either.

“The choice for Scerri Herrera to be the next Chief Justice was [initially] Alex Borg’s choice as much as it was mine,” PM Abela said.

Borg refuted this, saying that he was ready to take an oath about this that “the Prime Minister is telling a blatant lie.”

The Labour Party later issued an official statement saying that Alex Borg did not deny that he had initally supported the nomination of Dr Consuelo Scerri Herrera as Chief Justice during the discussions with Prime Minister Robert Abela. It observed that his attitude during Wednesday’s debate showed his dishonesty with the PN parliamentary group and that “the position taken tonight by Alex Borg against the nomination of Dr Scerri Herrera shows that it is dictated by extremist forces that still dictate the position taken by the Nationalist Party.”

The Minister for Justice mentioned that some representatives from the Opposition’s benches, in reality, supported Scerri Herrera’s nomination. Attard said he had received direct messages from them that stated such, to which Opposition leader Borg requested Speaker Anġlu Farrugia to order the Minister to disclose these messages; Speaker Farrugia did not ask Minister Attard to do so, since no names had been mentioned.

Minister Attard and PM Abela both said that Alex Borg never discussed Scerri Herrera as the next potential Chief Justice with the PN parliamentary group. The Justice Minister said that because of Borg’s actions, the situation “degenerated” to that point. Both Attard and Abela stated that Borg nearly caused a “constitutional crisis” that was only avoided thanks to President Spiteri Debono convincing him to discuss this matter today, just hours prior to the plenary session.

Borg denied this claim. He dismissed these concerns, saying that “this crisis rhetoric is built on an unfounded narrative. There is no constitutional crisis.” On this, he cited Article 96(3) of the Constitution of Malta that states that if no two-thirds majority is reached, then the outgoing Chief Justice will remain in office till one is appointed.

Earlier in the day, President Myriam Spiteri Debono had exhorted the Government and the Opposition to "follow ways leading to an agreement on the appointment of Chief Justice in the spirit which reigned when the Constitutional Amendments of 2020 were agreed upon. This, in the interest of the Courts and the Administration of Justice, the Rule of Law, the State and above all our people."

She met with Alex Borg and Justice Minister Jonathan Attard.

Government Whip requested slight delay to Chief Justice vote so that Gozitan MPs arrive amid fast ferry issues

Before this debate officially kicked off, Government Whip Naomi Cachia requested that the vote be delayed until Gozitan MPs could arrive to the Parliament from Gozo, in light of the Gozo fast ferry not being in service.

Disagreements and quarrels between both sides of the House characterised Wednesday’s plenary from the very start. After Opposition leader Alex Borg agreed to discuss the Chief Justice appointment in this very session, Parliament was suspended for nearly an hour before Government Whip Naomi Cachia stated that both sides reached an “informal agreement” for government to open and close the debate, and for the Opposition to have a single speaker in between.

PL MP Cachia asked the Speaker of the House to be “lenient” with time, as time allotted between speakers hadn’t been established.

Opposition Whip Robert Cutajar stated that both sides had agreed for the vote on Scerri Herrera’s nomination as Chief Justice to be taken at 6pm that same session, only for Cachia to request for the House to wait for several Gozitan MPs to arrive first. To Cutajar’s outrage, she said that because the fast ferry was not in service, some Gozitan MPs would arrive late for the vote and hence appealed that Parliament waits for their arrival before proceeding for the official vote.

The vote eventually took place at approximately 6:45pm, after the Prime Minister remarked that “the Gozitans have arrived” and concluded his portion of this debate.

Prime Minister tried imposing name instead of discussing, says Opposition leader

In his address, PN leader Borg said that instead of discussing names for Mark Chetcuti’s successor, the Prime Minister attempted to impose Scerri Herrera’s name onto the Opposition.

Alex Borg said that the discussion over the next Chief Justice should be built on “discussion, mutual respect, and above all, national sense,” however, “what we’ve seen in recent weeks is contrary to all this.”

Borg said that PM Abela did not consult him on this matter until after he went public about the Prime Minister’s silence. He asserted that Prime Minister Abela “forgetting” that this appointment needed a two-thirds majority to pass was not just an administrative blunder, but “it was clear from the start that this was going to be used as a political exercise by the Prime Minister.”

The Opposition leader said that he made his position clear with Prime Minister Abela as soon as private discussions began between them to select the next Chief Justice.

He criticised the Prime Minister for handling this first Chief Justice appointment since Abela himself introduced this two-thirds majority requirement through a take-it-or-leave-it approach.

Borg stated that he was within his constitutional rights to propose the name of another candidate once he disagreed with the proposed nomination. He added that he kept this name to himself out of respect towards the judiciary and prospective candidates.

During Borg’s speaking time, the Prime Minister told the House that “the name Alex Borg put forward through Jason Azzopardi was an immediate no from me” and that he will not allow third parties outside Parliament manipulate national proceedings. Borg rejected that this interaction ever took place.

The PN leader criticised the Prime Minister for publicising the name of the government’s nomination before first agreeing on this name with the Opposition. He said that by doing this, he not only caused damage to this appointment process, but also to the person proposed.

“If today we tarnish the name of a Chief Justice because of this poorly managed process, it is because of who is managing the process,” Borg said.

Borg said that the Maltese and Gozitan people can see from today that “the Prime Minister looks so insecure. He chose to impose a name instead of discussing one; he chose – as Roderick Galdes said in his resignation letter – the party instead of the nation.”

Borg appealed for this matter to be resolved through dialogue between the two leaders, in line with the national interest. He called for both sides to build bridges between them, instead of walls, and to forget “political calculations” when discussing matters relating to the country’s institutions.

Prime Minister Robert Abela said that as a result of the “infantile behaviour” caused by the third party within the Opposition, the country should discuss introducing an anti-deadlock mechanism to avoid future instances where a two-thirds majority within Parliament cannot be agreed upon.

PM Abela commented that because of the Opposition blocking Scerri Herrera’s appointment, “the country will pay the price” as “the best selection we had in front of us will not be materialised.”

The final vote for Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera was blocked by the PN Opposition. The motion for her to be appointed as Malta’s Chief Justice acquired 39 votes in favour and 34 votes against; 53 votes in favour were needed for her to have been voted through.

PL statement

The PL issed a statement saying that the PN had relented after leaving the country dangling until the last minute. It was referring to the fact that the PN had initally refused to debate the PM's motion, with the Speaker ruling that the PN was corfrect that such motions needed an advance notice of three days.

“The Opposition has retreated and was ultimately compelled to acknowledge the Government’s position after weeks of delaying and failing to provide a response regarding the Government’s nominee for the post of Chief Justice,” the Labour Party said in a statement.

The party said that it is regrettable that the Leader of the Opposition kept the country suspended until the very last minute, exposing the nation to potential consequences in such a crucial sector for the country’s democracy.

“Had he persisted in his refusal to allow a vote to proceed, the country would have been left without a Chief Justice tomorrow. What he had long sought to avoid is now something the Leader of the Opposition will have to confront,” the party added.

“One hopes that, in the national interest, the PN leader will not allow anyone influencing his decisions,” it concluded.