Malta to legalize divorce

Malta's population voted overwhelmingly "yes" in a non-binding resolution on the legalization of divorce, the prime minister announced Sunday, as reported by AFP.

Malta, a tiny Mediterranean island, is one of two countries, apart from the Vatican, where divorce is illegal.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who was against the referendum, said the parliament will now pass a law legalizing the practice.

"This is not the result that I wished for, but the will of the people has to be respected and parliament should enact a law for the introduction of divorce," he reportedly said.

Almost three-quarters of the majority Catholic country voted in the resolution, and 53.2 percent of those who voted chose yes.

The leader of the movement supporting divorce hailed the vote as significant, BBC reports.

"It brings Malta into a new era where the state and the Church are separate," Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando of the governing Nationalist Party told local media.

The issue has been hotly debated in Malta, the last European Union country that had not legalized divorce.

"This is a conservative society, but Maltese still live like Europeans. This regularizes their lives," analyst Saviour Balzan told the Associated Press. His newspaper, Malta Today, campaigned in favor of the referendum. "It gives a new lifeline to hundreds of people."

He said the vote brings Malta closer to Europe.

Divorce is also illegal in the Philippines. Chile legalized divorce in 2004 after public pressure.