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Labour leader Alfred Sant would not be drawn into speculating on his party’s fortunes in the forthcoming local elections when launching the national electoral programme yesterday.
Asked by MaltaToday for his expectations, Sant said the group of localities where elections will be held on 11 March are predominantly Nationalist-leaning and that Labour never managed so much as a relative majority.
“Our intention is to do well and we want people to give us a chance to contribute for the good of the respective localities,” Sant said.
The four-page national manifesto outlining the Labour Party’s core principles for the forthcoming elections will be backed by individual manifestos for the 23 localities where elections will be held.
And with illegal immigration being one of the defining issues for 2005, the Labour manifesto argues for “inclusive communities” that promote “tolerance” and “respect for different lifestyles.”
“In no way should Labour councillors show support to racist or discriminatory attitudes,” Sant told MaltaToday when asked about his expectations from the MLPs councillors.
The Labour Party is committed to prevent social problems that may give rise to discrimination and where such problems already exist, these have to be addressed, Sant said.
The Labour manifesto clearly says that the party’s councillors will act to promote diversity between social classes, the sexes, people, races and religion.
“We want communities that work in unison against those who promote or support discrimination between social classes, sexes, gender, race and religion,” the manifesto says.
The message is an unequivocal no to discrimination and racism, which has been fuelled by xenophobic reactions to the wider problem of illegal immigration.
But Labour’s manifesto also speaks of local wardens and insists that these should not act simply as tax collecting officials. “Local wardens need to adopt an educational role in the community that leads people to observe the laws,” the manifesto says.
Whether that will mean less fines in localities with a Labour majority is still unclear.
The manifesto focuses on tourism and the environment, two policy areas recently dealt with by the Labour Party.
The manifesto says that local councils must serve as prime movers to develop the number of tourist attractions in their locality, within the context of a wider policy to stimulate the economy by kick starting tourism. As for recycling plants, the manifesto urges Labour councils to actively participate in independent monitoring boards to ensure that these plants are managed in an acceptable manner.
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