Election Playbook: Muscat back on ONE, protestors back on the street

Labour beats PN to manifesto: The Labour Party launched its manifesto for the European Parliament last week, laying out its 10-point guiding plan for its work in Brussels. Want a summary of the manifesto in under 70 words? Let’s go: The party is promising to prioritise Maltese interests at EU level while upholding Malta’s neutrality and promoting peace. Apart from this, the party promises to address Malta’s unique challenges in the EU’s single market, advocate for reduced bureaucracy, and support climate change reforms tailored to Mediterranean island states. All this while promoting fair asylum policies, connectivity, decarbonisation, and EU fund access, while emphasising subsidiarity and proportionality in EU integration. 

The prodigal son returns to ONE: Joseph Muscat returned to party media for the first time in years as he sat down for a radio interview with Emanuel Cuschieri on Wednesday. It was here that he revealed that an Indian national is the whistleblower upon whom Muscat’s corruption allegations have been based. This was his first appearance on ONE since resigning as Labour leader in 2020. It was only after being subject to a police raid in 2022 that Muscat started to make appearances on Smash TV and F Living to give interviews. 

Protestors in Valletta: A large crowd of protestors took to Republic Street in Valletta to protest recent events surrounding the Vitals inquiry. People waved Maltese flags in the air and got a little creative in their attire – one duo was spotted wearing black t-shirts with a cartoon pig on the front, while covering their faces with Rosianne Cutajar and Edward Scicluna masks. The protest was in part a show of force after the Prime Minister’s comments against the judiciary and journalists, but also a celebration on Repubblika’s side. After all, it was upon their request that a Vitals inquiry happened in the first place.  

Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday

Sleeping beauties: Independent candidate Arnold Cassola posted a photo on his Facebook page on Friday of what appeared to be Minister Anton Refalo sleeping in his car aboard the Gozo Channel – something which is now forbidden. “A just Malta. Everyone’s equal. And... happy dreams,” Cassola wrote. But he was quick to be corrected. Turns out, Daphne Caruana Galizia had posted that photo on her blog in November 2016. But as soon as Cassola realised, he published a screenshot of the blog post and apologised. “So, sorry Daphne, for having posted a photo you had actually revealed... without crediting you.”