A Nationalist Party billboard depicting both major parties' leaders in face paint should set alarm bells ringing among undecided voters, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Speaking at a party activity in Zurrieq, Dr Muscat derided the billboard as being out of touch with modern-day reality, asking his audience "is this the Malta you want your children to grow up in?"

The billboard, which was unveiled this morning, depicts Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Dr Muscat in blue and red face paint respectively, with Dr Gonzi's "work" placard contrasted with the "unemployment" card held by Dr Muscat's depiction.

"Is this a government that gives work to those of its same colour but leaves unemployment to the others?" Dr Muscat asked, adding that the divisive message the billboard sent crystallized the difference between the PL and PN.

Dr Muscat rallied his supporters using uncharacteristically bold language, calling on them to vote on March 9 to give a new government "a clear mandate" to break with the past and create a united Malta.

The Labour leader also criticised the statement Dr Gonzi issued in the wake of the arraignment of former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, who has been charged with aggravated bribery in connection with the ongoing scandal concerning oil procurement commissions.

In the statement, the Dr Gonzi had noted that Mr Tabone was already Enemalta chairman when he became Prime Minister, and that his tenure had not been extended when it expired a year later.

"Is Dr Gonzi blaming his predecessor for Mr Tabone's appointment? And why did he not extend his contract - did he know something back then? The statement the Prime Minister released raises more questions than it answers," he said.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech also came in for criticism from the PL leader. Mr Fenech has said that he had passed a tax evasion dossier handed to him by the secret service in 2011 on to the tax compliance unit without reading it.

The dossier alleged tax evasion by Aikon, the company implicated in the ongoing oil corruption scandal, and which rogue oil trader George Farrugia was a director of.

"How many dossiers does the Finance Minister receive from the secret service, for him to simply pass it on without bothering to read it?" Dr Muscat mischievously asked.

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