Carlos Zarb’s interventor starts at 46:36

At 17 years old, Carlos Zarb looks set to become Malta’s youngest ever local council candidate in two months’ time. And as luck would have it, one of his constituents will be Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whose hometown of Burmarrad falls under the responsibility of the St Paul’s Bay local council.

At a meeting for PL youth candidates yesterday, Carlos praised Muscat for pushing for the reduction of the maximum local council candidacy age from 18 to 16, a reform expected to pass before this May’s election.

“This means a lot for me, because youths bring about change and new mentalities,” he said.

And while the Prime Minister didn’t state outright whether he intends to give the young man his number one vote, he said he is honoured that he will be one of the first constituents who could vote for a 17-year-old candidate.

“I have a very good choice of candidates to choose from, including one who is younger than 17 years old,” he said. “Speaking for myself, I am honoured that my family and I will be able to make this choice. I encourage you [Carlos] to keep showing off this civic sense, because your intervention today was proof enough that it would make no sense to make you wait six years before giving you a chance to contribute to your locality.”

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]