More would vote Labour under a new leader

More respondents to an online poll would vote for Labour if they were to have a new leader but the majority would still vote for the Nationalist Party.

Two weeks ago, the timesofmalta.com poll asked the question: "Were a general election to be held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?"

Just under 45 per cent of the respondents said it would be the Nationalist Party, nearly 27 per cent said the Labour Party and 13 per cent went for Alternattiva Demokratika. Those who did not go for any of the parties amounted to just over 15 per cent.

However when asked, in poll of a week later, "How would you vote in the general election if Labour were to have a new party leader?" the percentage of people backing Labour went up to just over 34 per cent. The number of those who would vote Nationalist remained almost identical to the previous week, while AD's support went down to 10 per cent and just over 11 per cent expressed no particular preference.

The comments included: "I am a Labour supporter but unhappy with the leader" and "I am sick of voting Nationalist, but I will never give the Labour Party my vote with the present leadership".

One respondent wrote that if the Labour leadership stopped making fools of themselves, he would consider voting for the MLP. He added that because of the continuous negative attitude of the party leader, the Maltese are the laughing stock of the world.

Labour would never win an election under the present leader, was the opinion of others.

In contrast, another reader said it would not make a difference whether the Labour Party had a new leader or not as he was convinced that the PN were the only ones who could guarantee stability.

Several respondents seem unhappy with the political system in general and more than one said that they were losing faith in it.

One wrote: "I will not vote for any of the parties... I am disillusioned!"

There were more than 6,000 votes cast in the first poll and more than 5,000 in the second. They are not necessarily representative of the population as a whole.