Muscat pledges MLP shake-up

The 34-year-old MEP Joseph Muscat is Labour's new leader after obtaining a crushing victory in the runoff with George Abela yesterday.

Dr Muscat polled 574 votes (66.36 per cent), 139 more than he won in the first round, while Dr Abela increased his share from 200 to 291 votes.

Shortly after the official result was announced, Dr Muscat arrived at the headquarters with his wife Michelle to receive a resounding applause by a crowd of delegates and party officials who remained at Mile End till late last night awaiting the outcome.

Jubilant, Labour's second youngest leader ever (after Dom Mintoff, who was 33 when he took over the MLP) greeted the crowd, with the slogan of his campaign: "A new political season has just begun".

This was followed shortly by an invitation to Dr Abela especially, but also to the other contenders, to join him in the "internal earthquake" of reform he intends to implement.

"My first invitation, which I will make straight away, is to all those Labourites who did not feel comfortable with the party in recent years," he said. "I would also like to applaud and thank our brother George Abela and his supporters. This is your home and there will always be place for you here," he continued before sending his first political message as leader to the Nationalist Party.

"The honeymoon is over Dr Gonzi, we're back in business."

The runoff was necessary after Dr Muscat failed to secure an absolute majority on Thursday night by just three votes. In fact, the wafer thin margin made yesterday evening's result widely expected.

Earlier in the day, Dr Abela said he was "still in the race" but added that he was being "realistic" about his prospects.

Contacted by The Times after the result was announced, Dr Abela congratulated his young rival on his success. "This was not an easy contest for me considering that I came from outside the party but I like to think that I have helped to strengthen the credibility of the party in the process."

He said that he would not be taking up any post but that he would be working closely within the party. "I thank God, for His assistance and for the clean campaign I ran. I also thank the delegates and also my helpers who were so crucial, throughout."

Commenting on the fact that he did not concede defeat, as some expected, he said that he did not concede because he did not want the next Labour leader to be elected with a relative majority and because he owed the second run to the delegates who had supported him along the way.

Dr Muscat has been tipped as the favoured candidate all along but Dr Abela made exceptional inroads, starting the contest two months ago as "the outsider", after having resigned as Labour's deputy leader in 1998, shortly before the party faced an electoral defeat that ended its 22-month stint in government.

With 181 votes, Dr Falzon too proved he is still a force to be reckoned with.

In effect, Dr Muscat faces a tall order as he takes over a party which is still licking the wounds of a third consecutive defeat at the general elections and is plagued by destructive factionalism.

His reconciliatory speech, after the official result was announced was meant to address precisely this issue but the rifts will not be easy to heal.

Commenting to this newspaper after he cast his preference in the runoff yesterday, Dr Falzon criticised a remark made earlier in the day by the party's general secretary Jason Micallef on radio.

While being interviewed by Charlon Gouder on the party's radio station, Mr Micallef said he was disliked by the Nationalist Party because he "never hugged or danced" with any of them - a comment which Dr Falzon took as referring to his friendly embrace with the PN's general secretary after Labour conceded defeat.

"I am and will remain loyal to the party. As for comments made on the radio regarding the fact that I hugged Joe Saliba, well, I'll leave that up to the political maturity of the people..." he said.

Clearly sore about the outcome, he added: "The delegates had a choice between someone who gave the past 16 years of his life to the party and someone else.

"We know how they chose and I respect their decision."

Evarist Bartolo, who also turned up to cast his preference yesterday, was more philosophical about the paltry 32 votes he managed to poll on Thursday. "Well I'm disappointed. I wasn't expecting to win but I wasn't expecting 32 votes either. Oh well. I guess it could have been worse; I could have won 31 votes," he commented wittily.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who also fared badly on Thursday with 26 votes, was not seen at the headquarters.