Joseph Muscat to fill gap left by Marlene Farrugia on 5th district for PL
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be running on the fifth district in the upcoming election, the Labour Party leader announced at a mass rally held in Żurrieq yesterday evening.
Partit Demokratiku leader Marlene Farrugia, whose party forms part of a coalition with the Nationalist Party, was elected as a Labour MP on the district with 2,525 first-count votes back in 2013. EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella also used to contest in the district, where he held strong support garnering 5,231 first count votes in the last election.
The mass rally saw hundreds turn up in strong support of their leader, who is facing serious corruption allegations involving the highest echelons of government.
He began by thanking the ferocious support his followers had given him fifty months earlier in the previous general election.
“I asked you to put your faith in me. Few believed in our dream, but today there is little doubt that Malta really is the best in Europe.”
“We are in the middle of our journey and there is more work to be done; the Tagħna Ilkoll project is not ready, and with your strength we can progress more”
“Every house in Malta can feel this progress, in spite of an Opposition which represents the establishment, which tries to divide us.”
He said that the population will remain together, and appealed to the crowd to make the correct choice on 3 June and allow the country to continue moving forward.
“This is the same Opposition that four years ago had the worst deficit and debt in history, saw the country have outof-stock medicine, kept the Marsa power station open, and sent you high bills,” he said. “Now they are in a coalition of confusion.”
The current economic success, along with the accomplishment of no longer using Heavy Fuel Oil was central to the mass rally, with Muscat telling the crowd that prior to the 2013 general election, nobody thought it would be possible for the government to reduce debt and increase benefits and civil liberties at the same time.
“We now have a surplus, and we are using the funds to help those who need it most,” he said, while referring to the increase in pensions, free childcare to working parents, and the increase in the minimum wage.
Muscat went on to say that his government “had made mistakes but learned.” He did not, however, make any direct reference to the Panama Papers or any of the allegations currently plaguing his administration.
In response to criticism from MEA concerning his proposal to ensure that public holidays falling on a weekend be returned to employees during the work week, the Prime Minister said that it will be implemented over time and will involve discussions with all stakeholders.
“We will ensure that no business loses any competitiveness,” he said.
The Prime Minister also referred to his proposal which will see the government embark on a €700 million project to resurface all of Malta and Gozo’s roads, his tax reduction proposal, and intentions to extend a first-time-buyers-style scheme to the middle class.
He concluded by telling the energised crowd that “even though forces are trying to undermine this government and halt our progress, they will not manage, and will strengthen this movement.”