(ANSA) - VALLETTA, 20 FEB - On 26 March Malta will go to the vote for the renewal of Parliament.
The date, as foreseen by the Maltese Constitution, was decided by Prime Minister Robert Abela who announced it today during a rally in the town of Floriana, on the outskirts of Valletta.
The elections will therefore be held about 10 weeks before the legislative assembly's forfeiture and just a week before Pope Francis' expected official visit to the island, which has been postponed several times in the last two years.
According to polls published by the Maltese media, the Labourist party led by Abela after Joseph Muscat's departure has a margin of about 15 points (45.1% vs 30.3%) on the center-right opposition expressed by the Nationalist Party, led by Bernard Grech, and aims to reconfirm the absolute majority for the third consecutive term.
In recent weeks, however, Grech has reduced the gap from the prime minister who inherited a government and cabinet of ministers inherited from Muscat on 13 January 2020, whose economic and political successes were overshadowed by the scandals that emerged during the investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia .
Now Abela promises changes and reforms that reassure Maltese status quo as much as international partners.
"Our spring will be brilliant, because we are strong in this moment. We are the governing force that has strengthened democracy and created strong systems of control that will last for generations" said the premier, underlining the effort made by his executive to regain the trust of the EU and the US. .
With the Washington administration first particularly active in avoiding the cover-up of the journalist's murder, then in wanting to include Malta in the gray list of anti-money laundering (a move to which Abela responded by promising profound reforms on financial controls) and in sanctioning the two men closest to the former prime minister and involved in "
(HANDLE).