Labour Retains Lead Greens Edge Forward
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ELECTION SPECIAL €0.50 ELECTIONS 3 maltaISSUE 114 • THURSDAY, 04 JUNE 2009 • WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MTtoday DAYS TO GO LABOUR RETAINS LEAD GREENS EDGE FORWARD Which party will you vote for? (Declared voters’ results excluding from the sample respond- ents who do not intend to vote or who are still undecided) Which candidate will you be giving your first preference? 51.2% 42.1% 5.5% 0.6% 0.6% Only respondents who expressed preference Candidates with ratings less than margin of error of 3.7% are -0.5% -0.3% +1.4% -0.4% -0.4% indicative;indicative candidates with less than 2% are not included 24.5% PL PN AD AN OTHERS +0.8 6.2%6.2 6%6 +0.9+0 5.6% 4.9% --1.21 3.8%3 3.1% +3.4 2.4% +0.6 ++0.8 +1.2 +0.2 FULL SURVEY RESULTS PAGES 8-9 Labour MEP’s transparency pledge: PN candidate vents frustration Sliema local councillor - ‘Robert Attard-Montalto reveals partial accounts , page 14 Arrigo is not against Gonzi’ , page 22 Newspaper post Newspaper THIS IS A PAID ADVERT 10 maltatoday election special | Thursday 04 June 2009 news ON THE RECORD Compiled by James Debono Alan Deidun Marlene Mizzi Nationalist Party Partit Laburista On rationalisation of building whether any actionon is going to Onn workingworkingg was the best for my country. Five years schemes: be taken on the blatantatant squat-q unundernder Austin ago, I wanted Malta to join the EU, but I “One slight consolation offered by the ting at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaqgħaq and GaGatt:tt: also wanted a change in government...” pro-scheme extension camp was that no Għajn Tuffieħa barracks,arracks, “I also told hhimim May 2009, MaltaToday more ODZ developments would be con- and the ‘boathouse villages’illages’g (T((Thehe Prime Min- doned and that a minimal 0.4% increase at Ġnejna, Armier andd St ister) I was fed up On EU commission proposal was being proposed - if the Hondoq ir- Thomas Bay. These issuessues of working with to extend maternity leave to Rummien, Ta’ Cenc, Hal Ferh, Smart City may exceed the remit of ananyy Austin GGatt,ata t, that he 20 weeks: and any other developments still in the politician - maybe Azzopardiardi is not a people’speoe ple’s man, “S“Suchu changes in working conditions pipeline do materialise, the 0.4% figure will prove me wrong and breakreak ththatat he treats people afaffectfec both the employee and the em- would have to be revised and any comfort the mould. lillikeke oobsoletebsolete computers.computers.”” plployer.oyer The state of the economy must it offered would have petered out.” September 2008, The Sundayunday JuJulyly 2005, MaltaTodaMaltaTodayy be taktakene into account at the time such September 2006, The Sunday Times Times prproposalsop are made because increasing On partisan politics: maternity leave has a financial impact On GonziPN’s promise to On divorce: “I have no interest in partisan popolitics.litic I on the employer and this may place fi- sanction Armier boathouses: “I am personally against divorce sinceince I really dislike this petty MalteseMaltese mental- nancial pressure on the firm which may “Even more galling (since public land believe in respecting commitments mamade.de. ity where one is brandedbranded redr or blue as not be sustainable. However, having is involved here) are the overtures by However, I am also conscious of the hard-ard- soon as one shows an opinion.o I am born said so, I think it is about time we make both political parties to the squatters at ships some people are facing as a result ooff a Maltese citizen.citizen I am not born red or things easier for working women who L-Aħrax, which straddles over all the bay wedlock – I am thus receptive to analysingg blblue.ue. I hahaveve also been born with a mind, are trying to raise a family.” from Marfa to White Tower Bay, for a to- individual cases where genuine hardships and I lilike to use my own not somebody May 2009, Pink Magazine tal of 1,200 ‘units’, made on the eve of the are being faced by any of the two partners elelse’s.” last election in an archetypal case of po- and considering granting divorce in such June 2005, MaltaToday litical clientelism… One may feel snug in cases only.” the conviction that public uproar against March 2009, Alan Deidun blogspot After being cleared such proposals will probably scupper the of any wrong doing unabashed proposals, as they did way back On campaign spending by other in an enquiry on in 2001. However, the groundwork is al- candidates: Sea Malta: ready being laid by statements to the tune “What happened to the financial lim- “I have no doubt that, of “it is difficult to speak of illegality when its imposed on candidates during their he would have loved to some of the owners are paying rent to the campaigns? Do these apply only to local crucify me if even the Lands Department, and when government elections? Are the MEP elections simply a slightest peccadillo were authorities have supplied the owners with contest of who speaks and shouts loudest? to be found… Evidently, electricity and water” by the Office of the Is the electorate being given the chance to my not having been pub- Prime Minister. This could effectively be- see through the rhetoric being thrown at licly hung, drawn, and come a rubber stamp of the misdemean- them? I trust in the discerning abilities of quartered by Austin Gatt ours carried out by the notorious Labour the Maltese electorate who, come June the is certainly not for lack of administration of the early 1980s.” 6th, will let arguments put forward to pre- his trying,” May 2008, The Sunday Times vail, rather than the hollow posturing and May 2007, MaltaToday vote-raking publicity stunts. Needless to On Armier: say, the next few months will see so many On voting Labour Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzop- of these stunts.” after voting yes in ardi has bitten the bullet and is seeking to March 2009 Alan Deidun blogspot the referendum: move squatters from public land. While “Where’s the incon- such a stance deserves praise, Azzopardi On Simon Busuttil: sistency?” she instantly should go all the way and unravel several “There are elements present who will be replies. “Bear in mind at other contentious public land issues, be- around for another four years, and others the time I was a private sides those relating to billboards and tour- like Simon Busuttil, who – naturally, after citizen, not a public fig- ist zones. the Prime Minister has won many more ure, and really and truly Such a sentiment was also elaborately elections – I see as the next leader of the how I voted is my own expressed in the The Times’ online fo- PN.” affair. In any case, I used rum, with various readers asking about May 2009, addressing PN general council my vote to get what I felt news Thursday 04 June 2009 | maltatoday election special 3 heir guns on Muscat Triccas said: “My message to pluralism is the way forward Joseph Muscat is that when- for Malta and it is now late in ever people try scoring with seeing how the European Par- political footballs, all we can liament works.” get is auto-goals, to the detri- Star candidate Simon Busut- ment of our children.” til urged greater voter partici- “We will be insisting to be pation on Saturday. heard in the European Par- “It is important for people to liament,” she continued. “PL vote, and to vote for PN can- MEPs either do not know didates, because it is the PN where they have to sit, or do candidates who know how to not know what they’re voting best use the membership tool for.” in the EU,” he said. On employment, the PN “We mentioned the exam- frontrunner said that this is ple of Iceland today, and it is “Malta’s biggest challenge.” important for us to remem- “We confront this challenge ber that it was Joseph Muscat instead of embarking on a himself who gave the wrong mudslinging campaign,” she advice to the Icelandic gov- charged. “The PN was always ernment in 2002. Thankful- the party for both the employ- ly, Malta did not take Joseph er and the employee, because Muscat’s advice. The PL want- its policies have always sought ed to make an Iceland in the to reach the balance between Mediterranean rather than a the two.” Switzerland in the Mediter- Tedesco Triccas went on to ranean. say: “Joseph Muscat should be “But this time round, the ashamed of himself for arriv- Icelandic government took ing 30 minutes late for a tel- advice from Lawrence Gonzi evised debate without apolo- and not from Joseph Muscat. gising to the Prime Minister, Tools must be entrusted to or even worse, to the PBS crew those who know how to use Concluding the event was PN I must also send my regards beings comes when times are whom he left waiting. The them. So here I am appealing general secretary Paul Borg to one of the youngest Sliema most difficult,” he said. “Now message is that the PL is al- not just to Nationalists, but Olivier, whose speech was people here – Thomas Gonzi the country is going through ways late. It was late in recog- also to Labourites and those characterised by eulogies to (the Prime Minister’s grand- difficult times, and this is nising that democracy is the who voted AD four years Gonzi.