Thursday, 11th June 2009
Far-right voters mainly uniformed men - Muscat
Most of those who voted for far-right candidates in the MEP elections were members of the uniformed forces and those in the forefront of the illegal immigration problem, Labour leader Joseph Muscat charged yesterday.
Dr Muscat said such people wanted to get the message across through the European Parliament elections that mainstream political parties were not heeding their pleas on what they experienced on a daily basis.
He was addressing a press conference with Labour's MEPs Louis Grech, John Attard Montalto and Edward Scicluna and observer MEP Joseph Cuschieri.
Dr Muscat said the Labour Party (PL) wanted to hear these people as much as it wanted to hear those who did not vote, those who voted for other parties and sympathisers who did not vote.
The party was committed to listening to the messages sent on Saturday. In fact, although the election had passed, the party was holding an open day at its headquarters in Ħamrun to listen to what the people had to say.
Commenting on the landslide victory at the EP elections, in which the PL won a 55 per cent majority, Dr Muscat said: "This was not a victory that could be achieved by any political party. It was the victory of a growing movement, which included many who never voted Labour before. The election result is a mandate for the PL to not only criticise but also offer solutions."
Dr Muscat said the satisfaction for politicians was that of improving people's quality of life. "People have sent a clear message that they are not happy and there were surely others, who voted for the Nationalist Party, who are also not happy with the way the country was being run," he said.
Asked how he interpreted the fact that the PL's votes had fallen by 6,000 over the March 2008 general election, Dr Muscat said the turnout had also been lower but he admitted there were PL supporters who had not voted.
This, Dr Muscat said, was not the finishing line but the start.
He said the news that the Maltese economy shrank by over three per cent in the first quarter was a major cause for concern because it had an effect on living standards and on jobs.
Replying to a question on whether each of Labour's candidates would be declaring their electoral campaign expenses according to law, Dr Muscat said the party expected them to abide by the law.
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Comments
Simple. AS far as i know ACs and others on duty like Police and Soldiers vote in separate boxes on the eve of the elections, just as those being abroad voted in a separate box. Each box has approximately 450 voters ( subject to correction). Hence calculations are not all that difficult. The election commission issues the results to parties of each and every box.
I am normally a PN sympathiser, but after researching about Norman Lowell and listening to all of his speeches (the ones that got aired of course; the media didn't want to show his face anywhere!) I opted for him as the Number 1.
I also believe that I conducted more research into the candidates' profiles and track records than over 90% of those who voted for PN.
Jekk ir-razzizmu qed jeskala tort tal-inkompetenza ta' Gonzi li halla eluf ta' immigranti illegali hawn Malta meta ma ghandhom l-ebda dritt jigu u joqghodu hawn. Iktar ma jithallew hawn jisirqu x-xoghol tal-haddiema Maltin u jghixu bhal sangisugi minn fuq dahar il-poplu Malti u jaqilghu problemi iktar se jqum il-poplu kontrihom u iktar ikun hemm voti ta' protesta.
Who said this; and how does he know ?? If this is really true , members of the Police Force are no longer transparent. They have to bide to the Geneva Convention. This law is often broken by dictatorships and Far-right parties. SHAME !
What an unwise comment! So, first he embraced former MLP rejects and now he wants to 'talk' to extremists!
Way to go Joseph, but then with those pulling his strings in the background and, let's not forget Jason, nothing is impossible.
The LP will do anything to gain power. The problem is, when they governed, they always screwed up.
I think that everyone knows about the illegal immigration problem and it's not that easy to solve this problem. We'll better hear from him about the Worldwide Economic situation something that he never mention in his speeches. And again this is not easy to solve either.
Jekk il PL jaqbad it-triq li jibda jaqbez ghall-immigranti minflok ghall-Maltin, jaf xi jkun il-futur tieghu meta jaslu l-elezzjonijiet. Ghadu kif kellu ezempju car
@ c.caruana
Xi statement socjalista qed tghid?
Li intuhom il- vot, ic-cittadinanza, flat tal- gvern, xoghol mal- gvern u bandiera tal- Labour?