The government's move to shut down Parliament ahead of the elections showed Malta had turned into a dictatorship, Nationalist party leader Adrian Delia said.
"The Prime Minister woke up one day and decided to shut down Parliament,” Dr Delia said, adding this showed Malta was not a normal country.
On Thursday, the Opposition leader reiterated his criticism towards a proposal in the European Socialists’ manifesto that supports EU-wide tax harmonisation. This would be fatal for the country, Dr Delia said.
Brandishing a copy of GWU-owned daily L-Orizzont, Dr Delia quoted a headline saying 35,000 jobs would be threatened by tax harmonisation.
The article, called '35,000 jobs threatened by the PN’s vote on taxes' said PN MEPs had voted in favour of amendments that support EU-wide tax harmonisation.
However, Dr Delia said, the story proved the Nationalist Party's stance was right since it showed how tax harmonisation would be fatal.
The GWU daily also focused on abortion, an issue which Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said was being pushed by Dr Delia because he had no other arguments
"For once I am telling you to go buy L-Orizzont – actually, we will make photocopies," he told supporters in his hometown of Birkirkara.
"Over 80 per cent speaks about abortion," Dr Delia said, adding this proved the issue had become a national debate.
"We want to continue talking about it, so that they can hear us," the Nationalist party leader said. “On abortion, we want to speak about it and be clear. I want to speak for the unborn child that cannot yell, cannot speak out, cannot protest."
The Prime Minister had also encouraged civil service workers to take time off work to do a part-time job, Dr Delia said. He was referring to comments by Dr Muscat during the Labour party annual general conference, where the Prime Minister joked that Maltese government workers were so hard-working, those who skived work did not go back to sleep, but went to work a part-time job.
'Let us fight cancer together'
Dr Delia appeared to refer to controversy regarding a PN billboard on cancer, saying this should not be turned into a partisan issue.
“Let us fight together, instead of attacking each other. Let us fight against a common enemy: cancer,” he said, adding Malta should show other countries it was able to set partisan politics aside.
The PN billboard refers to comments made by European Commission candidate Manfred Weber, who came to Malta and said member states have the resources to fight cancer if enough investment were made.
“Let us invest in our doctors, not billboards,” Dr Delia said. “Let us invest in our youth, not marketing,” he added.