At least 10 government MPs were unhappy with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s leadership, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat claimed yesterday.
Dr Muscat made the comment in an interview broadcast on One Radio, although he failed to substantiate it or provide further details.
The government lost its one-seat majority on Thursday when MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando resigned from the Nationalist Party and said he would sit in Parliament as an independent MP, Dr Muscat said.
With backbenchers Jesmond Mugliett and Franco Debono also unhappy with the Nationalist Party’s executive’s decision to censure them, Dr Gonzi’s government now hang precariously in the balance.
Dr Muscat insinuated that the three MPs were only the tip of the iceberg. “There are MPs who aren’t happy with the situation but have only voiced their discontent internally,” he said.
When asked to substantiate the claim, a Labour Party spokesman suggested that The Times contact the Prime Minister’s office for more details.
Accusing the government of locking itself in an ivory tower and throwing away the key, Dr Muscat listed the problems faced by this legislature.
Cracks started emerging in February 2009, Dr Muscat argued, when the government had withdrawn a proposal to build an underground section to St John Co-Cathedral’s museum.
The government was now obliged to consult with Dr Pullicino Orlando, “like having two Prime Ministers”, he said.
Dr Muscat had little time for those who used legal arguments to justify the government continuing its five-year term.
“Legalistic arguments don’t impress me... constitutionally the Prime Minister might be able to govern, but it’s not democratic-ally correct.”
The Prime Minister has said he does not intend to consult President George Abela on the matter since Dr Pullicino Orlando, despite his resignation, had pledged to support the government’s electoral programme.
That statement rankled Dr Muscat, who said it was “the least” the Prime Minister could do, given the circumstances.
A PN spokesman argued that Dr Pullicino Orlando’s pledge to support the government had cleared the political landscape. The PN, he said, had a mandate to carry out its 2008 electoral programme.
Deriding Dr Gonzi for being “in office but not in power”, the Opposition Leader hit out at the length of Parliament’s recess, until October 1.
“What Parliament in the world has 21 weeks of holidays in a year? Children at the beach right now will be back in school before Parliament is back in session.”