If confirmed, it would be Prime Minister Robert Abella’s first election since replacing Joseph Muscat, who resigned as prime minister in January 2020 amid a government crisis over the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Abela, the son of former Maltese President George Abela, said in a brief interview with TVM News that Labor had won the majority, sparking celebrations among party supporters at the Naxxar polling station. Bernard Grech, leader of the Nationalist Party (PN), congratulated Abela and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, saying Labor victory was “good”, although official results were not expected until the early hours of Monday morning. , the Times of Malta have been reported. “We are very pleased that in the next five years Malta will have a Labor government again,” Fern told AFP, adding that all indications were an absolute majority for his party. Several polls had shown an inevitable Labor victory, largely due to a strong economy and the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. However, turnout was 85.5%, the lowest since 1955, according to the Electoral Commission, and the campaign was overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These were the first general elections in which young people aged 16 and 17 had the right to vote. Abela, a lawyer, was not greatly affected by the repeated allegations of corruption made against him by Grech, even though Labor remained infected with corruption in the Maltese political and business elite revealed by Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a bomb placed under the driver’s seat. her rental car as she left her home in the village of Bidnija in October 2017. A public inquiry last year found that the Muscat state had created a “culture of impunity” in which its enemies felt they could silence it. Yorgen Fenech, a wealthy businessman, is awaiting trial for allegedly masterminding the murder. Caruana Galizia, 53, had been investigating a controversial power plant deal in which Fenech was the main shareholder and director. Muscat resigned amid public outcry over what he said was an attempt to protect his inner circle from the murder investigation. As prime minister, Abela has moved to strengthen good governance and freedom of the press, although Caruana Galizia’s family says it has not gone far enough.
