MLP Leadership Contest - The ban that never was

It seems that the on off media ban that was in place for candidates is now definitely off, if what Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said during her press conference stands up. If the party has now decided to let candidates campaign openly then that’s nothing but a step in the right direction.

The concept of a ban worried me, for the same reasons that Union Print’s decision not to cover George Abela’s candidature worries me. My opinion is that Labour’s problem has not been about policies but about presentation and image. Most of the media is structurally against the MLP. There’s no point moaning about it. You just have to be clever.

The standard Labour needs to achieve in terms of its accountability and transparency is higher than it is for PN. Those are the facts, and maybe in the past there was a good reason for it. We should see this fact not as a problem but an opportunity to really raise our game and to take politics in Malta to a totally different level.

I’m banging the same old drum here. Let’s have a good open debate about where Labour wants to go in the next five, ten years and not only make sure we choose the right man or woman to do the job but also transform the party’s image and make it one that demonstrates beyond any doubt that it is inclusive, open and tolerant.

These are great principles of social democracy and living them will not make us weaker. It will help us lift Maltese politics to another level and help to really become European citizens.