‘We’re here to better lives, not boast of majorities’ - Robert Abela

Prime Minister Robert Abela told party delegates on Friday that the Labour Party must strengthen itself to better the lives of Maltese and Gozitans, not  to boast of majorities during elections.

“We want a strong Labour Party - not so that we can boast of electoral majorities, but above all so that we can better the lives of all Gozitans and Maltese,” he said.

Abela gave his first post-election address to party delegates during the first day of the PL general conference. The conference will serve as a vote of confidence in the party’s leadership - namely Robert Abela as leader, Chris Fearne as deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, and Daniel Micallef as deputy leader for party affairs.

Abela said that Cabinet and the Labour Party’s parliamentary group have already started working to implement its 1,000 manifesto proposals from last month’s election.

But he also urged delegates to reflect and look back on whether the party could have disappointed past supporters in the lead-up to the election.

“This is a process that already started internally. We started doing this through long meetings in the past week where we were strongly and genuinely self-critical. This is a process that we will continue and extend on in the weeks and months to come.”

Earlier in the conference, Health Minister Chris Fearne said that the party must reflect on the fact that 15% of voters did not cast their ballot on election day.

“We need to get these 15% on our side. Even those who are against us, we need to work hard to bring them onboard,” he said.

Labour Party delegates will have until Sunday to confirm Abela, Fearne and Micallef in the leadership roles.

The conference will come to an end on Sunday morning, after which the party will hold a mass gathering to celebrate Workers’ Day.

At the end of his speech, Abela urged supporters to come to the Workers’ Day gathering, noting that it will be the first time under his leadership that the party will be able to celebrate the day en masse due to previous COVID-19 restrictions.