News • December 07 2003

Hopes dashed by poor showing in petition

Kurt Sansone
The petition championed by Kalkara mayor Michael Cohen to pressurise the Labour Party into increasing the number of candidates for the European Parliament election from four to 11 appears to be going nowhere, with party executive members telling MaltaToday that "it enjoys no strength."
Although the petition does have enough signatures to cover the statutory 10 per cent of delegates required to force a general conference, the support it enjoys is way below the 55 per cent claimed by Sharon Ellul Bonici in comments given to this newspaper last week.
From the around 900 registered delegates the petition was signed by less than 200 people
MaltaToday was told, and it seems some of those who signed have requested to have their endorsement withdrawn.

The petition aims to reverse the decision taken by the extraordinary general conference in November, which had selected the Labour Party’s EP election candidates. From 11 contestants only four managed to surpass the 70 per cent threshold to have their names on the MLP ticket.
However, the leadership trio and the Administration are dead set against the petition and very few members of the national executive are ready to lend their support for the cause.
The MLP has had to face internal criticism for presenting only four candidates for the EP elections. Party officials argue it is ridiculous for the MLP to change its decision on the selection process when it was the general conference that had laid down the parameters.
Former euro-sceptic Sharon Ellul Bonici, Super One news editor Gino Cauchi and former party president Manuel Cuschieri did not make the grade by a whisker. When asked by MaltaToday a fortnight ago whether she intended contesting the EP election as an independent, Ellul Bonici had said that she was not commenting "for the time being."
Manuel Cuschieri has denied he will contest as an independent (see story on back page).
kurt@newsworksltd.com