Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today that while the prime minister had spoken of a compromise solution on the holding of local council elections, he had not spoken to him as leader of the opposition. 

Speaking in a Net TV interview Dr Busuttil said there could be no compromise on the basic democratic principle of holding elections.

As he did on Saturday, Dr Busuttil drew comparisons with the situation in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, the Chinese government wanted to choose election candidates, while in Malta the government wanted to remove the elections, Dr Busuttil said. 

Dr Muscat said yesterday that following a public consultation, the government would present a proposal which he was sure would meet wide approval. The proposal, he said, would respect democratic mandates while being practical.

He did not give details.

Over the past months the government indicated that elections might be put off for five years to be held with the next round of European Parliament elections, thus reducing costs and voter fatigue.

No details have emerged yet of the prime minister's new proposal, with speculation in some quarters being that the next round of elections in March would be held, but candidates would be elected for a longer term.