Government & Politics
Lawrence Gonzi won't call early general election, defends Tony Abela
By Ruth Davies
Mar 12, 2006, 18:48

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi ruled out an early general election to seek a new mandate after the string of bad results in local elections and European Parliament elections under his party’s leadership since 2004. He was replying to questions from journalists during a press conference following the results of the Local Council Elections held on Saturday.

Prime Minister Gonzi also defended Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela accused by the Opposition media of breaching the code of conduct for ministers and parliamentary secretaries and being involved with a man accused of smuggling and drug trafficking. Dr Gonzi said Tony Abela cannot be accused of such a breach for receiving calls for assistance. He also attributed the poorer showing of Notary Abela's brother in Rabat when compared to three years ago as a result of the strong PN candidature this time round.

Speaking during the press conference on Sunday evening, Prime Minister and Nationalist Party leader Dr. Lawrence Gonzi stated that the party is analyzing the low turnout of 66% and high number of abstentions for the local council elections. He deemed these factors as crucial to the result of the elections in which the PN garnered 43% of votes.

Dr. Gonzi said that the party will continue to examine the result of Saturday’s local council elections, adding that it is apparent that from the first interpretation it results that PN suffered a loss due to the low turnout. “It is this light that the result must be analyzed,” stated the PN leader, while also claiming that many citizens might have abstained from voting in protest to national and local occurrences or alternatively because of personal issues.

The Prime Minister explained another reason for decrease in support for PN local council candidates might result from unpopular decisions the government took in the recent months including the introduction and increase of surcharge on utility bills. Dr. Gonzi stated that he was often called on to postpone introducing such measures or alternatively postpone the sending out of utility bills. The Prime Minister insisted that in order to back the modernization of Malta, along with upholding a truthful stance with Maltese citizens, it did not heed this advice for it would have been unjust to do so. The PN leader also said that citizens are not alone to be subjected to such burdens which will eventually lead to the betterment of the country, for the government is also sharing its part of the burden along with the population.

Local issues might have also played a strategic role in the formulation of the result according to Dr. Gonzi. He stated that the proposed projects for the locality of Sliema, which are essential to Malta’s development, might have affected the turnout or how people voted. In turn he added that some balloters might have voted differently because of personal issues which are affecting them directly such as unkempt roads or streets which have not been asphalted.

Dr. Gonzi claimed that the problems Malta is facing can only be solved if pro-active action is undertaken. He added that along with PN, Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) also experienced a decrease in votes. In contrasting this round of elections to the ones held in 2003, Dr. Gonzi said that the referendum held concurrently with the 2003 local council elections round might have encouraged people to vote. The Prime Minister also added that in 2003 Malta’s main concern was acceding to the European Union, whereas presently, the country’s main ambition is to improve the current economic and financial situation which has already took a turn for the better in the last six months. “Our main challenge is to transpose the benefits we obtained form EU accession to a improved standard of living,” explained the PN leader, while articulating that the politics PN embraces is the very means with which to aspire to this.

In conclusion, Dr. Gonzi said that PN’s eyes are set on the general elections to be held in 2008. He said that the PN is determined to win this election on its “own merit”.

For full details of turnouts and counts of all localities on mobile phones click here.



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