Leakage of information 'poisoned' electoral process - Bartolo

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said today that the leakage of details about the MLP delegates to a newspaper had 'poisoned' the process for the election of the Labour leadership by trying to condition the delegates.

In a statement Mr Bartolo also insisted that he would stay in the race for MLP leader and was not interested in the post of deputy leader for parliamentary affairs.

Mr Bartolo said he was reacting to rumours aimed at losing him the support of Labour delegates and forcing him to back out of the race.

Among other things, according to the rumours, he was not really interested in becoming leader but wanted to be deputy leader.

Mr Bartolo said that had he been interested in becoming deputy leader, he would have declared himself a candidate for that position.

If he was not elected leader, he would not seek any other position but would continue to serve the MLP and his constituents, Mr Bartolo said.

He said he would continue to convey the message of unity, viewing the five leadership contenders as the five fingers on the same hand. With unity and careful work in Parliament and beyond, a firm opposition would be able to shorten the life of a government which had 'stolen' the last election through a campaign of lies and favours but which was still continuing to govern in an incompetent and arrogant way, he said.

Mr Bartolo also condemned the leakage of the details of MLP delegates to enable a newspaper to carry out a "supposed" survey on voting intentions. What had happened not only exposed the delegates to vindictiveness, but it also 'poisoned' the electoral process by trying to manipulate and condition the delegates instead of allowing them to make a free choice, the Labour MP said.