MEP candidates and women's rights

The European Parliament elections are getting closer and candidates have launched their campaigns by which they hope to gather more votes. Their political agenda should be their number one priority since they are representing a political party. Having a healthy personal agenda is always good both for the candidates and also for their political party. However, problems start when these candidates start to make false statements.

PN candidate Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas said that the Nationalist Party gave her the opportunity to stay at home and raise a family.

She stated that if it wasn't for the PN, women would not have the many rights that they enjoy today. In other words, she said the PN was the party that fought in order to bring equality in this country.

I find this statement to be simply ridiculous. This is because women started to enjoy equality rights due to hard work of the Labour Front under Paul Boffa.

Boffa pressed the National Assembly of the time (1945) to give women the right to vote. At that time only males who were 21+ of age could help.

With the LF's hard work, women started to enjoy the right to vote - it is also important to remind Ms Metsola Tedesco Triccas that at that time, Nerik Mizzi's PN opposed this; the reason they gave was that this was a burden that women aren't able to carry. The Labour Party, especially at the time of Dom Mintoff as leader, gave equality to women, something that the PN and the Church, at the time, always opposed. The LP gave children's allowances among other rights that helped women gain autonomy and power. The Labour Party was the real party that gave the opportunity to raise a family and benefit from state aid.

At a stage when every vote counts and no minutes are wasted, candidates might issue a statement that destroys their credibility.

The case of VAT in car registrations is a hot topic nowadays in Malta, with the Labour Party fighting in order to end this injustice and the Nationalist Party sticking to its guns.

Now Ms Metsola Tedesco Triccas said about the subject that it is not right that the PN is keeping us as Maltese citizens from enjoying EU rights. In other words, she is supporting the Labour Party's action on the matter.

This leads me to believe that she only issued such a statement to try and win some votes and not because she truly believes in the Labour Party's fight against injustice.