Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has confirmed that he’s not ruling out contesting the general election in five years’ time.

Interviewed by Lovin Malta, Muscat once again ruled out contesting the 2022 election but left the door open for a potential return to politics in five years’ time. 

“Then we’ll see,” he said, when asked whether he intends to contest. “We don’t even know when this election is taking place, let alone when the next one is taking place. It’s very far away.”

Muscat confirmed that if he does return to the political arena, it will certainly be with the Labour Party, and ruled out the possibility of setting up a third party. 

“Not even Dom Mintoff managed to do that [set up a third party], let alone Joseph Muscat,” he said. “As if I can destroy something I helped build and to which I gave half of my life.”

Muscat said he expects the gap between PL and PN will be “more or less the same” as it was in 2017 but warned the PL that it cannot take another colossal victory for granted. 

“Everything can happen during an election campaign. The gap can shrink, the gap can widen, new people can surface. A campaign is a campaign so you need to be focused,” he said.