Malta's parliament debates motion allowing select clauses in constitution bills to pass by simple majority

The House of Representatives took most of its time during Wednesday's plenary session to discuss a motion tabled by the Government. This motion (Motion 379) calls to regularise a new voting praxis for Constitutional Bills featuring clauses requiring different majorities for approval to be voted on through a clause-by-clause vote call, rather than just on the final Bill. Presently, any proposed Constitutional Bill requires a two-thirds majority to be enacted into law. In recent weeks, Parliament has been discussing Bill 134, which relates to several aspects within the judiciary, such as raising judges' retirement age up from 68 to 70 years of age, increasing the number of judges handling constitutional cases to seven (including the Chief Justice), having the Constitutional Court be comprised of three sections (up from one), amongst others. The motive behind Motion 379 relates to this Bill, which, according to the government, features certain clauses that do not require a two-thirds voting majority to pass, but only a simple majority of 50% of the House.
Read the full article here: Malta Independent