Maltese leaders hail ‘inspirational’ Biden-Harris victory

Prime Minister Robert Abela has congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their election victory. 

He hailed the election of the first female vice-president elect, and the first such VP of colour, as “inspiring”. 

Opposition leader Bernard Grech described Biden, 77, as “a man who stood up to be counted and prioritised the value of people in his politics”.  

The President of the Republic, George Vella, congratulated Biden and Harris, saying he looked forward to a consolidation of bilateral relations between Malta and the USA “to overcome global challenges”. 

Malta’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vanessa Frazier, hailed Harris’s victory. “As a child her mother taught here that whenever some man would claim that ‘a woman’s place was in the house’, I should reply ‘yes... in the White House’. Today we are one step closer.”

Maltese EU Commissioner for equality Helena Dalli saluted Harris’s election. “We must play our fair share in politics and we need to reflect society, in all its diversity, at the decision making level. Congratulations to Kamala Harris for leaping over the hurdles and becoming the first ethnic minority woman Vice President of the US.”

Malta’s junior minister for equality Rosianne Cutajar said that as vice-president of the United States, Kamala Harris “will be shattering another racial and gender barrier in American politics whilst serving as an inspiration for all the women around the world.” 

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola said Biden was a “good, decent man who ran on a message of hope - who feels the weight of the office - And a strong woman as Vice-President - you know the world will be a little bit better tomorrow.”