A large section of the electorate will decide the way they will vote hours before Saturday’s crucial poll, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi tells The Sunday Times in an interview today.
The Prime Minister has a situation where nobody ever assumed responsibility for anything
With polls consistently showing a strong Labour Party lead, Dr Gonzi rejected claims that the game was over.
In two interviews held yesterday afternoon, Dr Gonzi and Labour leader Joseph Muscat pitched their arguments as to why they are best suited to lead the country for the next five years.
Dr Muscat reveals he will be unveiling the conclusions of discussions his party has been having with the hunters’ federation before Saturday’s election.
However, he insists there was nothing underhand about the discussions with the lobby which was made public when they started two years ago.
He also ruled out giving a concession on increasing the number of birds that can be shot in spring – a hot potato with the EU which has landed Malta before the European Court of Justice.
Dr Gonzi lists the interface with the electorate as the weakest aspect of his administration, and pledges to appoint PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil to focus on filling this deficit if re-elected.
Clarifying his controversial reply at The Times debate last Tuesday, Dr Gonzi says he would turn to party councillors and assess their trust to establish if he could still continue leading the party, should the PN lose the election.
Presenting his party as the best guarantee to ward off the international economic ills, Dr Gonzi describes Labour as a party rich on slogans but weak on substance.
“Let’s not leave our country in the hands of someone who has made mistakes in opposition. If you make the same mistakes in government it’s dangerous. If he gets it wrong, he will get it very wrong.”
Dr Muscat, on the other hand, defended his pledge to bring about an economic change of direction, arguing that the biggest shift will come in the way public-private partnerships will become the “modus operandi” of a prospective Labour government.
Skirting direct questions over the decision by deputy leader Toni Abela, for failing to report a drug case at the party’s Safi club, Dr Muscat said the people would be the judge of how the party acted in this case, insisting that everyone had shouldered their responsibilities.
“I think people will judge. And they will also judge the fact that the Prime Minister has a situation where nobody ever assumed responsibility for anything. I think in all of the cases you mentioned, the people involved assumed their responsibility,” he said.