Youngsters are not interested in hearing about what happened in the 1980s, former President and Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami tells The Sunday Times in an interview today.

“People are conscious the country has moved forward and there’s no going back,” the Nationalist icon says, though he warns it would be a mistake to take everything for granted.

When asked if he feels it would be wise for the Nationalist Party to raise memories of the past, he says: “My own strong belief is there’s no going back. When harping on the past, I don’t think people care about it.”

Three weeks into the election campaign, Dr Fenech Adami applauds the civil debate enveloping what he describes as one of the best campaigns in any election he could remember.

In a widely positive tone, the 79-year-old says he is proud to have contributed to eradicating the division which stifled ­Maltese politics when he was at the forefront.

He says nowadays there are no parties with leftist or rightist ideologies but two parties “gathering round the centre”.

Dr Fenech Adami says that if it were up to him he would have called the general election earlier.

“What I have to do, I do. I don’t put it off till tomorrow,” he says.

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