Malta - Politics - 2017
Events (factual or alleged) since the outbreak of the Panama Papers had shaken the very core of the country’s moral fiber, placing at risk the “serenity” of a stable and mature democracy. Developments in early 2017 implicated the prime minister himself in huge secretive money transfers in personal bank accounts.
In the face of the Egrant allegations, on 01 May 2017 Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called a snap election saying that the corruption allegations risked undermining the economy. The media frenzy during election month culminated with a showdown between the two Party leaders during a debate broadcast live on Xarabank, which was preceded by the publication of the leaked FIAU reports. While Busuttil seemed to have the political edge, Muscat came out on top - memorably calling Busuttil a 'chicken' when he refused to support outright the Egrant allegations made by Caruana Galizia.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced the change 02 May 2017. Muscat said he had spoken with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and would be asking her to dissolve parliament. Muscat said that the country was "showing the first signs of suffering from uncertainty", in an allusion to the Opposition's tactics in the wake of the Egrant saga. Muscat veered from triumph - "we have become the envy of Europe" - to scorn, saying his rival, PN leader Simon Busuttil, had a "weak character" and had that his thirst for power meant he had no problem dragging Malta's name through the mud. the Labour Party was gearing up for an election and getting its candidates ready, after internal surveys showed the party enjoyed a 17,000 majority over the Nationalist Party.
Marlene Farrugia's Partit Demokratiku agreed to contest the general election under the Nationalist Party banner on ballot papers, but its candidates distinguish themselves as pertaining to the 'Orange Party'.
A general election was held on 03 June 2017, nine months before the due date. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat declared victory in Malta's snap election after preliminary results showed his Labour Party heading towards a second mandate. A sample count of ballots showed Labour having a majority of more than 30,000 votes, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the electorate.
"It is clear that the people have chosen to stay the course," said Muscat, who called the snap vote to counter allegations of corruption against his wife and some of his political allies. Simon Busuttil, the leader of the opposition Nationalist Party, made a telephone call to Muscat to concede defeat in Saturday's election.
During the election campaign, Muscat promised continuity and greater wealth for a country that has the lowest unemployment rate ever at 4.1 percent - the third lowest in Europe - and in 2016 registered a budget surplus for the first time in three decades.
The snap June 2017 General Election delivered a landslide result for the Partit Laburista (PL), with an even stronger popular mandate than 2013 (55 per cent) - the likes of which a Maltese political party had not seen since 1947. And yet, others would describe the very same country as a shady jurisdiction run by a cabal that has twisted the institutions of the state to serve its purpose and would stop at nothing - not even murder - to protect its interests.
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