Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has rejected Opposition claims that foreigners who bought a Maltese passport through the citizenship scheme were granted voting rights abusively.
"There was absolutely no abuse," he said, but did not explain further.
He said that when doubts arose, political parties have a range of ways to seek redress. They either approached the Electoral Commission directly or they went to court. I am informed that the Electoral Commission will go through the complaints raised by the Nationalist Party," Dr Bonnici said.
He made his remark during a news conference at PL headquarters in Hamrun which was also addressed by the two other party deputy leadership contestants - Economy Minister Chris Cardona and former PL President Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi.
Last week PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that a vetting exercise carried out by the PN electoral office showed that from a sample of 100 successful applicants for the right to vote, 91 had been given the vote abusively. The PN then filed court action.
During this afternoon's news conference the three Labour contestants focused mostly on the report issued yesterday by international credit rating agency Moody's.
Dr Cardona noted that economic growth was forecast exceed of 4%. Moody's had also praised Malta for the turnaround of Enemalta and its good use of EU funds. He noted that Enemalta registered a profit in 2015, after a long time, in spite of the reduction in utility tariffs. Moody's also noted a decline in the deficit and unemployment which has gone down to a 36-year low.
"We need not be euphoric but we have started from a desperate situation. This is contrary to Dr Busuttil's forecast at the last election, that Labour won't work" the economy minister said.
Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi focused on the social aspect. He stressed the importance of a fair distribution of wealth while noting that for the first time in years those at risk of poverty had gone down.
The Justice Minister focused on the governance aspect, saying Moody's had given a positive review even to government's efforts to fight corruption.
He said that plans are in the pipeline for the appointment of a commissioner for standards who would ensure that MPs who unjustifiably missed parliamentary sittings were not paid. Moreover, by the end of this year, the government would publish all major contracts including the health and energy sector, bar important sensitive information.
He added that government will also enact a law whereby parliament will have the authority to scrutinize the appointment of chairmen of State entities.