Playing in the prime minister’s official car tonight
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January 6, 2012 at 11:45pm
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He asked the Italians to take him, and got this reaction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf1CuGoV8FI
No amount of Freddie Portelli hits will change the stark reality: Dr Gonzi’s government can only muster 34 votes in its favour in Parliament.
And 35 votes are declared against it.
The government is dead.
No amount of administering of the kiss of life, as Dr Gonzi was trying to do on TV tonight, will bring it back to life.
The funeral can be delayed, yes, but never cancelled.
In a parliamentary system, a government exists because it is supported by a majority of MPs.
As the situation stands now, Dr Gonzi cannot, for example get a money bill through parliament. He is therefore a caretaker PM.
The PM says that the country needs stability.
The only way this can be achieved, after today, is by calling a general election so that he can win back a majority of seats.
This is not a question of doing an Alfred Sant.
If the government has lost its majority in parliament, it is no longer legitimate.
Whatever Franco Debono was, is, or will be, is not the point.
When Mintoff voted against Sant, he was over 80, with no political future. Yet he had one vote in parliament, which was enough. Same goes for Debono.
Not going for a vote of confidence in spite of the fact that at least one PN member has declared his lack of confidence in the government is, apart from politically immoral, an act of extreme partisanship.
The PM’s only interest now is keeping his party in power. I think this is a first in Maltese politics, that a PM so blatantly ignores the national interest and looks only at the interests of his party.
[Daphne – Really, Albert. Where were you in 1981 then?]
And what is your interest, Albert Farrugia?
From where I’m sitting it seems to be to get the Labour Party elected as quickly as possible.
You seem to have jumped on the bandwagon as quickly as your Dear Leader has.
Now that’s one for the national interest isn’t it?
Albert, il-Mandat biex tiggverna l-poplu jaghtihielek u mhux Franco Debono.
Ghamel sew Dr Gonzi ma kkalkulax la lilu u lanqas lil Joey.
Bizzejjed ghandu problemi Internazzjonali ma xiex ihabbat wiccu Dr Gonzi, zewg qniezah ohra jonqsu.
Dr Gonzi mhux Alfred Sant.
Il-problemi jiffaccjhom u mhux jahrabhom.
Franco Debono voting against the government would not result in a Labour government.
Only if the electorate awards the LP a majority of seats can it govern.
It is time to consult the electorate. One must not forget, also, that this government is not even backed by a majority of the electoral vote. As the PM repeatedly and rightly says, the country needs stability. Now is the time for statesmanship.
Italian ex-PM Berlusconi, up till a few months ago, was showing absolutely no willingness to give up power, claiming that he had a majority in parliament. However, when it became clear (even before a vote in parliament) that he cannot muster a majority any more he indicated that his time was up.
And, sure enough, he lost a confidence vote. And resigned.
Albert, you mentioned Berlusconi, but you forgot to mention that Malta’s financial position is a hundred times better than Italy’s and certainly thanks to this governments and not Franco’s or Joseph’s.
Indeed, if no money bills are concerned in any vote, the government will not fall, but can you imagine the damage done to intended investors? The image of stability? Is Joseph not the least concerned about an unstable situation which he will inherit if elected? It will take months for a Labour government to start to understand all the pending projects, the personnel involved and how to run a country larger than the Mile End glass-house. In the meantime, to hell with employment, student stipends, promise of reducing W&E tariffs, etc.
Franco Debono might as well join the team of losers, dinosaurs and the boys of the ‘golden era’. The NP does not need Franco, the NP needs better screening of election candidates and to prune what they have now.
If Franco Debono declared that he will vote against the government, he should be immediately sacked from the NP Parliamentary group. There is nothing more to lose at this point.
Mintoff was declared a traitor for one solitary act. Franco Debono has been a pain in the a*se from day one and will not stop until he is given a Ministry. Well, that theory blew up in his face yesterday. His problem is however, that he will never become minister at all, not with a NP government and much less with a LP government.
He is simply not trusted by any political party in Malta. In Italy he would have many more opportunities more often than once every five years. Go Franco, go!
1981? So it means that this is the SECOND time?
[Daphne – Ho ho ho.]
I guess it’s time for il-Guy to start typing.
It is a sad day for the country when a democratically elected government is held at gunpoint by a spoilt brat of a neophyte PM who got too big for his boots.
His present immature antics are further proof of just how wise the PM was when he refused to knuckle under this prize prat’s blackmail and passed him over during the reshuffle.
Somebody should write a new song “Pajjiz tal-mammoni” instead of “Pajjiz tal-mickey mouse”. i am qute sure that Bundy will not volunteer this time round, given that he works for the biggest mammone on the island.
Ara m’hawn xi hadd li jahseb li l-PM mhux il-kalkoli kollha ra qabel ghamel il-mossi. Iz-zmien itina parir.
Issa min fil-PL qed joghrok idu jkun jaf.
Labour had put up a monument in Castile Square to Manwel Dimech; now, I think they will be planning one to Franco Debono, side-by-side. The trouble with democracy is that even the stupid and illiterate have a vote.