Leadership race will not divide the Labour Party as it did to the PN, Joseph Muscat says

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said that the leadership race between Chris Fearne and Robert Abela will not create a divide among the party as it did to the Nationalist Party.

Speaking during a phone-in on the party’s radio station, ONE Radio, Muscat expressed his confidence in both leadership candidates.

“We saw what happened to the PN the last time they held leadership elections, and some taught that would happen to us. But I am sure that it won’t,” Muscat said.

Muscat said that from his experience working with both Abela and Fearne, he knows that both have the qualities in leading the country forward.

“We are lucky to have two very capable candidates, something the PN didn’t have the last time they held leadership elections,” Muscat stated.

The PM said that once the process is carried out, the new leader will breathe new life into the government.

“We have around three years left in government, and the next PM has a clear electoral manifesto to continue carrying out,” he said.

Muscat admitted said that the incoming PM also has issues that he must resolve in government, including his own.

“That is what the job entails, and I am sure both Abela and Fearne will do so in an effective manner,” Muscat said.

The PM was also asked about the publishing of the Egrant report earlier this week.

“Now we know better than before that someone took the time to falsify documents in an effort to frame me and my family, while trying to destabilise the country,” Muscat said.

He also said that while the perpetrators are not yet known, what we know is that former opposition leader Simon Busutill had jumped on the bandwagon during the 2017 general election.

“There is political responsibility that is still to be shouldered,” Muscat said.

He also said that the report proved that he never interfered with police work, and let the institutions carry out their work independently.