Local council elections | PN blasts Joseph Muscat for creating 'division'

The Nationalist Party has today blasted the government’s “banal idea” to postpone the local council elections, claiming that the government created “division, rather than unity.”

The government’s decision to postpone the local council elections until 2019 elicited suspicion that Joseph Muscat was attempting to dead-leg a possible referendum to abrogate spring hunting by reducing electoral participation.

However, the government denied the claims, insisting that its decision was due to electoral fatigue and because it is unsustainable to organise an election every year.

Moreover, during a Sunday sermon at the Rabat PL club this morning, Joseph Muscat announced that the government would seek to strike a solution on the holding of the elections, and claimed that there may be a “convergence of ideas” between stakeholders.  

But in a statement this afternoon, the PN has taken umbrage at Muscat’s comments, describing them as the product of “three months of wasted time.”

“After three months of wasting the public’s time on his proposal to postpone the local council elections, Joseph Muscat has now said that he will seek some form of compromise.”

“Joseph Muscat created an issue which created division. If he wants to solve the problem that he created himself, he should retract his proposal and leave democracy untouched,” the PN said.

The Opposition also said that the local council elections are already scheduled by law, and stated that no prime minister – in any democratic country – should postpone elections.

"Although claiming electoral fatigue and too much politics, the Prime Minister still goes to the PL political clubs every Sunday. If he truly wants less politics, he should lead by example," the PN added.