Alfred Sant has said that even though Malta’s representation in the European institutions was tiny and proportionate to its size, “it was crucial that our representatives would be defending the interests and needs of ordinary citizens, rather than that of elites. Only a strong Labour Party presence could guarantee this.”

Addressing the gathering at Labour’s “tinda” event in Rabat, the EP candidate for this Saturday’s election said that many people in Malta “had still not grasped the fact that many important decisions that have a major impact on families are being taken within EU institutions.”

Alfred Sant reviewed the reasons being given by some Labour voters to justify abstaining. He also described the reasons Labour voters give for wishing to abstain, by referring to grievances caused by the Labour government’s actions or inaction.

Sant said that it was not fair to expect Labour, in little more than a year, to repair injustices that had been imposed over a 25 year time span by the previous administration.

He also stated that the Muscat Government was now in its second year of administration and “was faced by an Opposition that had still not developed its alternative plans and was relying on destructive and negative tactics to make itself felt. Such an approach would continue to increase during the year, as had happened to all Labour administrations since 1955.”

“These had borne the brunt of extremely destructive tactics during the second and third year of their legislative run,” Sant said. “Labour leaning voters therefore needed to assess where their best interests lay, and to consider whether abstaining now in the EP elections would not go against their interest by giving encouragement to the Opposition.”

“This was run by a party that had consistently put aside the interest of the common people, and would be fomenting unjustified anti-Labour sentiment,” Alfred Sant concluded.

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