This election will go down as one of the most anomalous we have had. The closest one to it is the one of 1987, when the country's fundamental rights of democracy, free expression and liberty were at stake. This time, Malta must decide between corruption and normality.
Simon Busuttil was right on the first day of the campaign. This is not an election between two parties offering different proposals for the electorate to choose from. It is an election on principles.
So much has been said and written in the past few weeks. We will have an election one year earlier than scheduled, one that was called in haste by a Prime Minister before an inquiry concerning him and his wife could be concluded. Since the campaign started, we have had two more inquiries launched, this time concerning his closest ally and, now we know, his closest friend, the OPM chief of staff. Only God knows what the inquiries will discover, and only God knows what else is out there waiting to surface. Many still argue that the election was called after four years because the prime minister fears the outcome of the investigation.
What is sure is that, whatever the result of the election, the suspicions will not go away on Sunday. Having the Prime Minister, in the words of the Opposition Leader, at the centre of a criminal investigation is unprecedented. No other head of government has been put in this embarrassing and shameful situation. We've had good prime ministers and less good prime ministers, but Joseph Muscat will be remembered, come what may, as the prime minister who was investigated by a magistrate while in office.
It has become the norm of the day to come across news that puts the Prime Minister and people close to him in bad light. Yesterday we had the news that there were plans to try to muzzle the media with multiple libel suits, a story that did not elicit any reaction from the government. We have come to almost expect that there is some revelation every day. But we should never allow ourselves to become immune to this state of affairs.
Prime Minister Muscat has gone from blaming a blogger to blaming his political adversary to blaming to Russians for the situation he brought onto himself. He has resorted to attacking the Leader of the Opposition on a personal level, seeing that he was losing ground. He has kept away from the media that could ask him the hard questions, and only chose to accept invitations from those media house that are friendly. Yesterday, he even chose not to announce a visit to a company mired in allegations of precarious work, simply because he wanted to steer clear of the media.
The normal activities linked with the campaign pale into oblivion when compared to the magnitude of what else is taking place around us. The political leaders continue to move from one event to another, and this short campaign has passed by in a flash, but the overriding issue remains how this country will emerge from the current crisis.
The Prime Minister went to Gozo to tell his supporters that he wants to increase employment in Gozo. But Gozo Minister Anton Refalo failed to give answers to our questions on how jobs were given with the ministry and Gozo Channel on the eve of the election.
PN Leader Simon Busuttil said he would void the entire Vitals Global Healthcare contract should investigations verify the allegations concerning a VGH consultant's payments within Pilatus Bank. He also pledged to remove the LNG gas tanker from the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay.
Weeks after Joseph Muscat made false allegations in relation to the rental of PN offices, the European Parliament yesterday confirmed that MEPs are in fact allowed to rent office space from national political parties, putting to bed another desperate lie spun by Joseph Muscat as he kicked off the campaign in Malta, the Nationalist Party said. It is yet another statement that got no reply from Labour.
The final leaders' debate on TV was mostly an anti-climax. The PM timidly tried to reply to the clear accusations of corruption made by Busuttil, but we all know who is on the right side.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2rdDBEk
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