Former Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi has called for changes to Malta's gender-corrective mechanism after three candidates were elected to Parliament for a second consecutive time through the system.

The comments come after Nationalist Party candidates Bernice Bonello and Julie Zahra, together with Labour candidate Cressida Galea, for the second time secured seats in the House of Representatives through the gender-corrective mechanism after not being directly elected through the normal electoral process.

In a Facebook post published today, Mizzi argued that the system contains a significant flaw, claiming that candidates who had already benefitted from the mechanism during the previous legislature should not be eligible to receive a seat through the same process a second time.

Mizzi questioned whether sufficient attention was being given to what she described as the "humongous wrong" within the mechanism, arguing that it is unfair both to voters and to other female candidates.

According to Mizzi, MPs who entered Parliament through the gender-corrective mechanism in the previous legislature had four years to prove themselves as representatives. However, she noted that they were once again not elected directly by voters and had nevertheless obtained parliamentary seats through the corrective mechanism.

The former MEP stopped short of criticising the individual candidates, stressing that her concerns were directed at the system itself rather than the women who benefitted from it.

"If the powers that be do not do the right thing and scrap this obscene law before the sunset clause is applied in 2041, at least amend the law to state that the GCM can only apply to the same person once," she wrote.

Mizzi also warned that, without reform, the mechanism could encourage politicians to rely on the system as a route into Parliament rather than securing election through the normal electoral process.