Abela says his campaign is gaining momentum

George Abela, one of the leading candidates for Labour’s leadership contest, said his campaign had gained a lot of momentum in the past weeks.

Speaking at Marsaxlokk, where he toured the market this morning, Dr Abela reiterated that he feels like the “horse that’s coming from behind” but that his bid gained considerable traction.

After he resigned from the party in 1998, shortly before the general election which saw Labour back in opposition after a 22-month stint, Dr Abela was said by party insiders not to stand a chance when the race for the new leader began in mid March.

Today, however, the prospects are looking good. “We’re in the middle of the campaign, there will be ups and downs,” he said, “we hope there will not be too many downs from here till June.”

An extraordinary general conference is scheduled for next Friday in which delegates are meant to decide on a historic motion which could open the door for Labour’s 19,000 odd members as well as the present 900 delegates to choose the next leader – an idea floated publicly by Dr Abela when he launched his leadership bid.

He would not comment on where he feels the motion will go, saying that it is up to the delegates to decide.

However, he said that he hopes that the right arguments would be made underlining that opening up the vote for members does not mean that delegates would be loosing some privileges but that this would be the party’s first signal to the people that it is ready to open up.

That said, he stressed that he is comfortable running with both the delegates alone or the members voting for the leadership.