'25 years of injustices cannot be undone in one year' – Labour candidate

With the forthcoming MEP elections less than a month away, Labour MEP candidate Mario Farrugia Borg has called on voters to reconsider their abstention, claiming that the Labour government merits the people’s vote because it “performed brilliantly” during its first year.

Speaking to Sunday newspaper Illum, Farrugia Borg – who works in the private secretariat of the Prime Minister – appealed to Labourites who intended to abstain to reconsider.

“On the whole, 14 months into its legislature, the government performed brilliantly. Labour voters who do not vote would be like cutting their nose to spite their face at the detriment of the Labour Party,” Farrugia Borg warned.

In an exclusive interview with Illum, Farrugia Borg argued that those Labourites who in the past 25 years were subject to discrimination due to their political affiliations have to be patient.

“We are aware that there is a number of genuine Labour supporters who are hurt after what they had to experience during the last 25 years. During this time, their progress was met with stumbling blocks. The government is committed to investigate this issue, but it needs time,” he said.

Notwithstanding the government’s promise to investigate cases of injustices, Farrugia Borg argued that while the fight against injustices was on the government’s agenda, there were other issues which merited greater importance, most notably the utility tariffs and civil rights.

 “Now we’re ready to start looking into these individual cases,” Farrugia Borg told Illum.

Interviewed by Illum, Farrugia Borg recounts how he had never intended to contest the MEP elections, and he only accepted after he was asked to do so by his “employer”, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.  

Read more in today’s issue of Illum.