Luciano Busuttil’s keen understanding of representative democracy

Luciano Busuttil thinks his fellow backbencher Marlene Farrugia should resign, though he fails to make it clear whether he thinks this should be from parliament or just the Labour whip.

This is because she has criticised government policy.

He has a fine understanding of representative democracy. Had Farrugia let rip against policies which were in the party’s electoral programme, and for which people voted in the government, then yes, Busuttil would be right.

But he wouldn’t be right in the way that he thinks: that the resignation would be for criticising the government. No, in that case, she would have to resign for going against the wishes of those who voted her and the Labour Party into power.

But Marlene Farrugia’s criticism has not been levied at any policy or project which was in the Labour Party’s electoral programme. The sale of Maltese citizenship/passports was not in that programme. Giving a large parcel of land, which to make matters worse is outside the development zone, to a Jordanian hotel developer to use for his private business was not in the party programme either.

Farrugia is right to criticise those things and she is especially right now to be fuming about the ‘fake university’ project. It wasn’t in the programme, her constituents did not vote for it, and those constituents are angry and don’t want it.

Marlene Farrugia is right and Luciano Busuttil is wrong. Busuttil has forgotten, or in his ignorance never knew, that it is not the Labour Party which he represents in parliament, but the people who voted for the Labour Party by voting for him.