Release of electoral manifest

This week, ADPD released its electoral manifest, which covered several areas including health, the environment, education, agriculture and parliamentary reforms. 

Amongst these proposals were ones such as better working conditions for educators, protection of farmers, and reforming parliament to avoid members having any conflict of interest. 

Volt

Reveals its second candidate

Earlier this week, Volt revealed that its Co-President, Alexia DeBono, will be contesting the election in the 8th and 9th electoral districts. She will be contesting alongside Thomas ‘Kass’ Mallia.

Releases election manifesto

Volt has announced its election manifesto, which covers areas such as sex work, euthanasia and education reform. 

It has suggested that sex work is regulated to focus on empowering workers and ensuring their safety, as well as introducing harsher sentences for traffickers. 

Euthanasia policy was also proposed, along with the suggestion of living wills and putting an emphasis and focus on individual’s choice.

Suggested education reforms that were suggested also include the removal of assessment for a number of subjects, revision of syllabi to remove irrelevant and redundant information, and equipping students with life skills, like financial literacy.

ABBA

Call out mask-wearing in schools

Rebecca Paris, ABBA’s leading spokesperson for child protection condemned the requirement for children to wear masks all day at school, whilst others are seemingly excused from mask rules. ABBA have also condemned the compulsory use of masks as a human rights violation.

Controversial figure, Matthew Grech, announced as spokesperson for gender and sexuality

Matthew Grech has often hit headlines for claiming to have been “cured” of his homosexuality and forming part of a group called Core Issues Trust, which claims to help people ‘overcome same-sex attraction’. Gay conversion therapy was banned in Malta in 2016.

In a somewhat ironic twist, he has now been made the spokesperson for gender and sexuality for ABBA. 

Partit Popolari

This far-right party is one of the newest parties to be established in Malta. This will be the first time it will be contesting a Maltese general election.

Complete autonomy for Gozo

Partit Popolari has proposed that Gozo become an autonomous state, with its own government elected who will have power over all policy and decisions affecting it, except for in the areas of defence and foreign affairs. 

They have also suggested that Gozitans should be allowed to have a referendum about whether or not Gozo should remain part of the EU, whilst still remaining part of Malta. 

Establishment of regional governments

Partit Popolari has suggested that four regional governments be established in Malta. In theory, this would act as a federal government system of sorts, with the regional governments having power over policy areas such as education, health, police, environment and fiscal policy. 

Rebuilding the Royal Opera House 

One of the proposals that Partit Popolari announced this week was the rebuilding of the Royal Opera House using the original plans from the 19th century. The opera house was reconstructed as an open-air theatre and was inaugurated in 2013, so this proposal was met with some backlash for being a waste of money and public funds.

What do you think of the proposals made so far?