Positive feedback for PM's call for forgiveness

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami yesterday presented the team of 85 candidates which the Nationalist Party will be fielding in next month's general election.

Of the 85 candidates, 31 are new, 11 are women and six are youths.

Dr Fenech Adami, flanked by deputy prime minister Lawrence Gonzi and party general secretary Joe Saliba, said that the PN candidates came from all walks of life: "We have doctors, lawyers, nurses, accountants, businessmen and others from different social strata of our society."

He expressed his satisfaction that 11 women were contesting on behalf on the PN on 13 districts, stressing that he would like the number of women and youths contesting the general elections to increase.

Dr Fenech Adami described next month's general election as extraordinary: "Obviously, it will be an exercise where the people will compare us with the other two parties on our track record, performance and credibility. But this time there is an extraordinary element because the electorate has to choose the party which can guarantee that the decision of the people in favour of Malta's EU membership on May 1, 2004 will be respected."

He urged the candidates and the party supporters to deliver the message - especially to floating voters - that this was not a normal election and that they needed to vote PN this time because this was the only party which could guarantee that Malta would join the EU on May 1, 2004.

"Democratic politicians cannot ignore the verdict of the people. Voting for the PN is a guarantee that your decision will be endorsed. All the people who voted yes in the referendum are being faced with a fundamental decision: Are you going to throw away the unique opportunity of seeing your country secure a better future or are you going to endorse the decision that you took on March 8?" Dr Fenech Adami said.

Dr Fenech Adami said Labour Party leader Alfred Sant had hijacked his own party soon after the result of the referendum became known. He said that his behaviour was undemocratic and it was a pity that people had been given no real choice between the two parties because of Dr Sant's behaviour.

Dr Fenech Adami said the government had carried out huge changes over the past four years in a bid to upgrade the country's legal and administrative framework and prepare for EU membership.

Dr Sant throughout the legislature has often vaguely said that if elected he will dismantle certain things done by this government: "My question to Dr Sant is very simple: which of the large number of legislative and other initiatives carried out by my government over the past four years will you remove and what do you intend to keep?"

Dr Fenech Adami also spoke about his speech during Wednesday's mass meeting when he had asked for forgiveness from those who felt aggrieved by any of the government's actions over the past four years. He said he had received positive feedback from a number of people who had not intended to vote for the party but who had now called him at home, saying that in the circumstances they were going to vote PN.