False move in Cospicua

Cospicua Labourites fear that the cloak and dagger moves against Paul Muscat's may yet backfire against their party. Ousting the maverick mayor could make all the difference in the second district come electiontime.With Labour Party supporters practically convinced that it will regain the fourth seat it lost at the 1998 General Elections, this move can turn the tide back in favour of the Nationalist Party. It's a boon for PN Deputy Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici. His camp fears that he is not working hard enough to secure the hardwon second PN seat in this important electoral district.

The order to oust Mr Muscat came from on high and although the former Mayor retains the Labour tag, the leadership of the party and Muscat are clearly at loggerheads.

Labour councillor, Willie Galea, claimed Labour councillors had been "threatened" by the party and told to force Mr Muscat to resign. Mr Muscat resigned last Monday.

When speaking to residents in Cospicua, MaltaToday confirmed the support Muscat enjoys in his locality. Some even said that MLP popularity gains in the Second District since the 1998 election General Elections are ebbing once more.

"Although Paul Muscat was expelled from the party and was acting as an independent, he had always the MLP at heart. Being practically fired on by the Party he served for 40 years is too much to bear," said a Muscat supporter at Cospicua.

The council is composed of five Labour councillors, one Nationalist councillor and Mr Muscat, who was elected on the Labour ticket but later barred from representing the party. The Labour Party won the Local Councils Election by tennis score (6-1) but if an election is held today there could be some surprises.

Many Labour Party supporters close to Paul Muscat but opposed to the MLP's handling of the affair, openly claim that if this is Alfred Sant's way of bringing back lost sheep, then he's out of touch with the people.

A number of families of Labour origin have been saying that they will not vote the MLP next time round, because what the party did to Paul, it did to them. They say that Paul Muscat's attachment to the MLP was such any differences should have been been resolved differently.

"We do not want to go through another Mintoff showdown. But then again the MLP should try to come to terms with things not create division," many Labourites said.

Some pointed out that Mr Muscat had bagged 700 votes for the MLP in the last local council election. Mr Muscat had polled one third of the Labour Party votes. "So why keep on picking on people from Cospicua? Does the MLP know that the Nationalist Party won a second seat last time round," people were saying.

During the last General Election the NP grabbed its second seat on just a 100 vote margin. In the 1996 election the MLP took the fourth seat on the strength of an extra 76 votes. It's that close.

That means that if six large families abstain or change their allegiance, then a seat could be lost and won.

Many also believe that there is no one capable of replacing Mr Muscat's as Mayor. Muscat ran circles around the conspirators in last Thursday's council meeting tripping them up over the irregular way the agenda had been set just one day before.Deputy Mayor Darleen Zerafa replied that the points referred to by Mr Muscat were "administrative mistakes".

After Mr Scerri was nominated and seconded for mayor, an open vote was taken, with Mr Scerri feeling he should abstain.

The result was three votes in favour, two against and two abstentions.

The secretary then referred to local council legislation and informed the council that three votes in favour didn't make a simple majority.

When a second vote was taken, Mr Scerri voted in his own favour, resulting in four votes in favour, two against and one abstention.

Delivering his first address to the council, Mr Scerri said that the council had never planned to come to this, adding that he "considered everyone as a friend".

Mr Muscat who replied took this point rather badly: "How can I consider you a friend when you have stabbed me in the back?"

Mr Scerri said that none of the councillors had been elected to put spokes in the wheels of the council. He said that he would protect others and expected the councillors to rally round one other.

Paul Muscat's close allies, some of whom are also MLP members told Malta Today that the order to do away with Paul Muscat came from the highest Labour Party officials.

Mr Muscat said that he would always consider Thursday's conspiracy nothing short of betrayal.

He recalled that last Thursday, the majority of the Labour councillors had given him an ultimatum: unless he resigned on Monday he would be voted out of office.

The council's minutes record Councillor Galea's claim that Mr Scerri was not fit to be mayor, adding that Labour Councillors had been threatened by the MLP and told to vote Mr Muscat out of office.

Mr Scerri objected to these statements and asked the council’s secretary to minute Mr Galea’s comments.