12 MARCH 2003

Search all issues

powered by FreeFind


Send Your Feedback!





Prime Minister confident of election victory as skeletons return to their graves

Prime Minister Dr Eddie Fenech Adami was in an upbeat mood when he addressed the media yesterday morning.
The Prime Minister had reason to smile. He was the first to announce the results of the Local Elections, ignored by Labour Leader Alfred Sant one hour earlier; the Prime Minister found time to crack a joke and called Alfred Sant’s decisions of the past few days ‘stupid’ and ‘unethical.’
Fenech Adami illustrated how the PN’s performance in the Local Elections had improved on the showing of three years ago when despite a third party contesting 10,180 more votes went to the PN.
Confident of winning the elections on 12 April, the Prime Minister attacked Alfred Sant and said the Labour leader was taking decisions on his own to safeguard his personal position.
Eddie Fenech Adami accused the Labour leader of holding unethical political and social stands.
According to the Prime Minister the leader of the Opposition lacks political ethics because of his interpretation of the referendum result and social ethics because he is not concerned with the wellbeing of the nation.
Fenech Adami could not understand how Sant was preparing to call on the public to reject EU membership when 53.65 had already voted in favour and the Labour’s partnership option had clearly lost.
He said the Labour’s position had already become the butt of many jokes, and that he had just received one from ‘the Police Commissioner’ advising people to drive slowly and carefully in Marsa because "bodies were returning to the Addolorata cemetery after having voted in the referendum."
Alfred Sant was accused of a lack of social ethics because, according to the Prime Minister, the Labour Party has lost the principle of solidarity.
"The MLP’s slogan of ‘you first’ is a clear indication of this. A slogan designed to encourage favouritism and personal interest over the national good. It may be designed for Alfred Sant to keep his position in the party, but clearly it is an unethical attempt to try and attract votes of those who may have some personal grudge."
The Labour Party is harking back to the MLP prior to 1987 one lacking in ethical values, the Prime Minister contended.
The Prime Minister challenged Labour Deputy Leader George Vella to repeat his assertion that five per cent of the electorate should not be calculated when determined majority and said that according to what even Vella had said the ‘yes’ vote was more than fifty per cent.
The Prime Minister avoiding answer on questions as to whether the PN is considering some sort of coalition with Alternattiva Demokratika and as to whether the PN was playing at home in these particular Local Elections.
Asked about AD and a possible coalition, the PN did not rule out the possibility but said he was convinced his party will be returned to Office.
Asked by Labour reporter Glenn Bedingfield whether at the local elections the PN had played ‘home,’ suggesting that the councils that stood for elections were PN leaning.
The Prime Minister would not comment as to where the PN was ‘playing,’ but said the outcome was clear and he was happy with the good result.



Copyright © Newsworks Ltd. Malta.
Editor: Saviour Balzan
The Business Times, Newsworks Ltd, 2 Cali House, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 02, Malta
Tel: (356) 21382741-3, 21382745-6 | Fax: (356) 21385075 | E-mail