Franco Debono: PL Is Responding To Electorate’s Election Warning
Franco Debono said that the plethora of internal resignations within the Labour Party is signaling to the electorate that the PL is taking its message from the June elections on board.
Debono argued that the PL found itself in a similar situation last June to the one the PN was in after the 2009 European Parliament election.
Both parties shed around 30,000 votes in comparison with their results at the previous general election.
However, Debono said the two parties acted extremely differently when faced with a serious warning by the electorate.
“In 2009, absolutely nothing changed. The electorate’s message was ignored, the party’s leadership couldn’t care less, and the only change was that they became even more arrogant,” he recounted.
“Obviously when the electorate felt that their message was being ignored, they got angry and rebelled.”
“On the other hand, Labour is going through a mini-revolution in light of the electorate’s serious warning, with resignations galore and the feeling that something is happening.”
Debono added a caveat that the PL government, unlike the previous PN government, is faced with a constant stream of scandals and court proceedings.
“PN is right to criticise PL scandals, as is its duty. In the most recent case, an ex PN MP (Jason Azzopardi) practically managed to solve the over-population problem singlehandedly. However, critics must show that their criticism stems from a love towards their country and not simply a way vent out their own frustrations.”
“The PN must also show that it has learned from the experience of 2009, and that it is truly an inclusive party that offers space to all those who genuinely want to contribute, those who already contributed in the past, and those who wanted to contribute but weren’t allowed to.”
“Elections are won by the party that can show it is inclusive and offers space to everyone.”
Several high-profile PL and government officials have stepped down in the wake of the election shock, including deputy leader Daniel Micallef, PL CEO Randolph De Battista, OPM head of secretariat Glenn Micallef, and PN communications head Ronald Vassallo.
Meanwhile, Rosianne Cutajar has been reintegrated as a PL MP and Jason Micallef has returned as a special PL delegate.
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