local news


Mid-term blues hit PN
Local councils minister Austin Gatt offers resignation

With clear signals pointing to a decline in electoral support at the local council elections, the Nationalist leadership was described as generally depressed on Sunday.

The Prime Minister was said to be pensive, as his closest advisors suggested that the Party should admit that it had to listen more to the voter.

But another faction suggested that the party should move on and not overreact to the result.
The Labour party was slow in realising the extent of the Nationalist party’s shock.

And after a rather low key approach in the RTK programme between Eddie Fenech Adami and Alfred Sant, the MLP moved quickly to invite the Prime Minister to a Super One programme - Made in Brussels - that will be shown this evening.

To complicate matters further, just when the government was hoping that the whole election drama was dying down, Justice minister, Austin Gatt, was faced with an embarrassment when one of his secretariat staff, Andre Carbonaro, from Birkirkara, was arrested.

Police sources cited investigations linked to fraud, saying the Central Bank has also been asked to look into the case, although the police would not comment officially on the matter. Mr Carbonaro was arrested on Tuesday and is due to appear in court today. A car - a Ministry vehicle - was still being withheld at the Police depot.

Dr Gatt offered his resignation on Wednesday, but this was turned down by the Prime Minister.

Yesterday, secretariat employees in all government ministries were suffering from shock, admitting that the worst thing that could happen to the Nationalist party was another dent to their prestige.

And the Prime Minister, who is always keen on supporting his Cabinet, now has to find ways of boosting morale into the general council that will be held at the end of this month

The council meeting will be moving to choose new delegates at the elections, which is very much seen as indication of party direction.

The general feeling within the PN party structures is that something must be done, although no one seems to have come up with concrete solutions.

Nationalist supporters told MaltaToday that they were happy that the party did not fare well in the elections.

"That way they will concentrate on the country instead of all this euphoria on Europe," some said.

Indeed one of the comments made repeatedly to a MaltaToday insight team was that the EU campaign was overbearing and boring voters.

But another aspect that contributed to the general malaise at the local council elections was the lacklustre campaign organised by the Nationalist party.

Some veterans, however, argued that despite all the negative aspects circumventing last Saturday’s local council election, the results were not that bad really, with the Nationalists retaining a majority showing in most of its strongholds.