Watch: Former PN MP Jesmond Mugliett – ‘If Malta Were France, A Macron Could Be Rising Now’
Malta’s current political scene is fertile ground for an Emmanuel Macron-like character to rise and shake up the two major political parties, a former PN MP has warned.
Jesmond Mugliett, who served as an MP between 1996 and 2013, spoke out during a discussion about three recent political surveys on ONE TV’s Paperscan.
The surveys – published by MaltaToday It-Torċa and Times of Malta – showed different numbers but similar images; there is a rise of disgruntled PL supporters who aren’t gravitating towards any other party.
“Everyone knows that the surveys are the result of the Vitals judgment, which has bothered everyone,” Mugliett commented. “Surveys can’t be viewed in isolation but as a trend over a sustained period of time, but if the trend continues the PL will have reason to worry.”
“The government must take the Vitals issue seriously. I know it is trying to take the hospitals’ management back in its own hands but it could still be dealt another blow of criticism and judgment at the appeal stage.”
“However, it must go beyond that. A sector of the Maltese population is bothered by certain things and wants to truly turn a new leaf from the ground up.”
When Paperscan presenter Charlon Gouder pointed out that disenfranchised PL voters don’t seem to be moving to PN or smaller parties in large numbers, Mugliett suggested that a Macron-like character could change things.
“There are four years left till the election. If we were France, a Macron could rise, create a new movement and attack the parties,” Mugliett commented, before he was interrupted by fellow panellist, Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg, who said the PL must be humble enough to address public concerns.
This isn’t the first time parallels have been drawn between Malta’s political situation and the situation France was in back in 2017, when Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche party stormed to victory in the first election it ever contested.
In February, former PN MP Jason Azzopardi said a “centrist, charismatic, moderate, popular and credible politician in the style of Macron” would have extremely fertile ground to defeat both PL and PN.
Do you think a third political force could ever rise to power in Malta?
READ NEXT: Watch: Robert Abela Is Too Weak And Didn’t Even Have The Guts To Fire Rosianne Cutajar, PN Leader Warns
