Bartolo cautions leadership candidates against creating rifts

The Labour leadership contenders needed to ensure that the election did not open new rifts within the party, Evarist Bartolo said this evening.

Speaking at a meeting for Labour MPs, candidates, councillors and officials, Mr Bartolo said every candidate, including himself, enjoyed the support of different groups, and the MLP needed the support of all of them, and more, in order to achieve a majority in the country.

“We the leadership candidates must avoid instilling division, because in so doing we would not only be hurting ourselves, but we would be hurting the party and the thousands of people who support us," Mr Bartolo said.

"Anyone who wins the leadership contest as a result of division will find that it will be more difficult for the party to unite and win. And what use would it be for anyone to win if the party loses?”

Mr Bartolo observed that all the candidates were saying that the others were valid leadership material. Therefore, in the past few days he was disappointed by the fact that some had criticised the fact that he attended a reception hosted by George Abela, interpreting it as a political manoeuvre. His, Mr Bartolo said, was a gesture of civilty and decency.

He attended activities to which he was invited, without preference or discrimination, and he had therefore invited the candidates to this reception because he viewed them all as the fingers in the same hand.

In his address Mr Bartolo insisted that the Labour Party needed to attract new supporters, and it needed to appreciate and engage all the talents within it.

They needed to learn from the successes and the failures of the past while having an open mind for the future.

The party needed to heal the wounds of the past and the present while being careful not to create new ones, so that it could move forward as a united party growing stronger and able to win, Mr Bartolo said.