A regular commuter on public transport, Sarah Carabott listened to the conversations that dominated her journey to Valletta yesterday with a busload of Labour supporters.
Bus after bus rushed to the capital yesterday morning full of Labour supporters in their Malta Tagħna Lkoll tops and red bottoms, discussing the election of the new Maltese government.
“I still cannot believe we made it by so many votes, but the signs were all there. I know family members and friends with Nationalist backgrounds who felt the pain of broken promises. My wife, for one, voted Labour for the first time,” a middle-aged man told a fellow commuter sitting behind him on the 8am bus to Valletta.
“That and the hunting issue... believe me... that weighed heavily on the result,” came the reply, to the nodding of those around, who stood packed like sardines.
The bus service, which since its launch in July of 2011 has been lambasted for its inefficiencies, yesterday carried hundreds of Labour supporters to welcome their leader Joseph Muscat as he took up office at Castille.
It would usually take much longer to reach Valletta through streets clogged with honking cars but the bus from Siġġiewi sped through empty roads lined with closed shops and mounds of rubbish; the aftermath of the previous night’s celebrations.
“Just keep in mind what the leader told us, we must celebrate, but Malta is for all. We can’t do damage. And neither should we taunt Nationalist supporters,” a woman in her 50s said.
In reply, a fellow passenger some four seats down said: “This would not have happened 15 years ago, that he would have given us this type of advice and we would have heeded it. I remember going rampant on the streets, but these are different times, a time of change, because Malta is for all.”
As he finished the sentence the passengers broke into chants of the electoral campaign theme Malta Tagħna Lkoll.
The atmosphere was lively, despite the incessant jostling from one side to the other. There was no need for the driver to bark “move to the back”, because passengers made way for commuters as they continued to load the already full bus.
Others, who had given up on making it to Valletta by bus, headed to the capital on foot, joining thousands who were marching to St George’s Square for the swearing-in of the new Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.