Top comment this morning
Published:
May 28, 2014 at 10:46am
Posted by Tinu:
Joseph Muscat lost a seat in the EU parliament after using all possible party and government resources including the public broadcasting and the power of incumbency.
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Depending on whether Simon Busuttil finally takes control and starts being himself, not what the people around him want him to be, this could be a turing point for the PN ….. and for Joseph Muscat
Ħadnihulhom. Ma riduhiex għal kemm tiswa d-dinja. Prosit P.N.
Issa naraw kemm se jibqa ‘Positive” il-Prim.
Meanwhile, news about Muscat’s eastern promise:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140528/world/china-targets-instant-messaging.520926
And, if I may add, some people stupidly wasting their votes to protest against or ‘send a message; to the PN by voting for fringe parties, who still did not get that seat.
Don’t be so negative ;-)
Labour supporters were out celebrating because they lost a seat.
Perhaps they don’t read the foreign news and haven’t seen that all talk in various EU member states is of seats won and lost and not of votes obtained.
That is one way to look at it. The problem is they won with over 30,000 votes. People are still not comfortable with PN. The years of arrogance from the ministers and prime minister need a lot of time to heal. forget 2018 election we have also lost this.
Has Simon Busuttil fooled us all?
Arguably Dr Busuttil is well aware that seats rather than first preference votes count in the EP elections. He knew that it would have been impossible to beat the odds to jump from a 39% voter share to 53%. Busuttil instead went for the jugular and slowly but surely got the coveted third seat.
His strategy appears to have revolved around promoting accomplished professional women with intelligence, a fighting spirit and high work ethics. This type appeals naturally to women and to those men who have no issue with placing their trust in women possessing such remarkable traits.
If this is the case, then Busuttil is a top notch strategist and constitutes a grave danger to Muscat. I for one under estimated Busuttil. I want this man for PM. He is destined to be a good PM as Baxxter recently commented.
I am delighted for Busuttil, for Metsola and Cachia, and for Malta.
The Irony of it all. One year into the Labour government and this country has come to believe that Labour has had some profound effect.
The actual catalyst of changing Malta into an open society is Eddie Fenech Adami through his vision two decades ago. However the problem with PN is, that Eddie Fenech Adami himself does not want to take this responsibility. Somehow this responsibility clashes with his catholic beliefs, which I respect but should be kept private. His coming out of the work to remind us what the Maltese traditional values are or more what they should be, is doing harm now.
It is beyond ridiculous to see how Labour has twisted and re-written history, or so they think. They have turned Mintoff into a hero, and now are having a go, at re-witting Alfred Sant as pro-European.
I am sorry to say this, but this is why people are not inspired by PN. To see the party hijacked by have been’s with a leader that has not yet emerged strong enough to make a clean cut. On the positive side maybe this is what the party needed.
Very true, although by a whisker (unfortunately that is).
The first prime minister who lost a seat in the European Parliament.
A comment on Clint Camilleri. The reason he did so well for a newcomer is because he promised heaven and earth to the hunters. His was a campaign strictly limited to the hunting issue, nothing else.
The word spread like wild fire among the hunting community that the Gozitan candidate promised that all he would work on as MEP is for extending the hunting seasons, spring and autumn and also expand on the trapping season.
It worked because he garnered nearly 9000 first count votes from Gozo and another 4000 from Malta. This was his strategy from day – as mentored by Franco Mercieca and other cronies at PL headquarters.
Their only purpose is not to convince voters but to try to shut their opponents mouth. Zimbabwe Style Mugabe Style. Labour no matter what.
He must be in a bad temper in Brussels
You can picture him acting like Rumpelstiltskin stamping his foot with rage.
Schulz must be furious, because he has lost a vote and gained a formidable opponent for the presidential election.
But Joseph Muscat knew all about the “foregone” draw result; he knows some mathematics.
Schulz will let him cry on his shoulder.
We will not know how much this election had cost the government. It is up to Edward Scicluna to hide the costs.
Dear Mrs. Caruana Galizia,
Many people including Tinu above are claiming that PL lost a seat. Whilst this is true when comparing this year’s 3-3 result with 2009’s 4-2 result, when you look at the details this is not the case. Let me explain.
In the 2009 election there were 5 seats to be won whilst this year there were 6. This means that the quotas were different and both elections cannot be compared in number of seats. In 2009 Labour won their 4th seat only because their last candidate (Joseph Cuschieri) was the last runner up (baqa imdendel).
This is a link to your detailed explanation 5 years ago :
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2009/06/the-quirk-of-the-sixth-seat-and-a-twist/
Although morally this year’s 3-3 result is a boost to the Nationalist Party followers, one should not forget that 5 years ago it should have been 3-3 too and hence, realistically, PL did not lose a seat.
I am sure the PN leaders know this and that they try to address the reasons why PN is lagging behind PL in number of votes. Dr. Busuttil said that he will double his efforts. I fear this wont be enough.
Brilliant!
He is seeing the day of reckoning looming. One day we shall forget his existance like we will forget Mintoff.
The press should ask how much the Labour Party and Nationalist Party spent on this campaign.
Nothing to be proud of, having won the seat by a mere 200 votes. Indeed in 2009, the PN fared slightly better as a percentage, and lost the 6th seat in the manner votes were inherited. It very almost repeated itself yesterday.
Nothing to celebrate.
Incumbency? That was a favourite word of Dr Alfred Sant not so long ago. Haven’t banded it about much lately.
Did Joseph Muscat have the decency to telephone Simon Busuttil to congratulate him on winning a third seat in the European Parliament?
kemm se jsabbat saqajh
Not so cocky after all. His counterparts would have noted that his party lost a seat.
Thank God for small mercies.
At least we did not get lumped with Joe Cuschieri.
Being lumped with Casa is not exactly much better but look at it this way you could have done worse and ended up with Norman Vella.
[Daphne – Mamma mia, how bitter you are, Anna. Your tone is all wrong.]
FYI
I voted green
I am disgusted not bitter.
[Daphne – OK. So if you voted for Alternattiva Demokratika, who are you disgusted by other than the PN? I have no way of knowing, because you only ever pop in here to lay into the PN and defend Labour.]
So you voted green, Anna! Sure. And I am Nicholas Cage.
Who is smelling the coffee now?
Id-dramm ma jieqafx hawn. Ghad irridu naraw ic-chapter li fih Joseph Muscat idur fuq Joseph Cuschieri u jorrfilu kariga, x`imkien kemm kemm inehhi l-obbligazzjoni li ghandu lejh. Hemm x`idea, xi hadd, din x`tista tkun ?
Se jtieh il-bar tal-Mile End.
And this affects the overall seat distribution in the European Parliament.
The projections had been based on a 4-2 for Labour.
In fact the European People’s Party will now have two seats more than the Social Democrats than was previously thought.
This may seem like a minor point but it will have an impact on the discussions on the distribution of jobs in Brussels.
It also weakens Joseph Muscat’s hand: he has been ardently promoting himself as Martin Schulz’s number one fan, in the hope of something in return. This one little seat may turn out to be very costly.
Joe Cuschieri offered to give 50% of his salary if elected. I am certain that very soon Muscat will give him a very good iced bun, and therefore wonder whether Cuschieri intends to stick to his plan of giving half to charity.
Tghid Joseph Cuschieri se jerga jaghmel festin ghas-supporters tieghu fl-Scruples Pub gol-Balluta?
Joseph Cuschieri mhux tajjeb bizzejjed. Jekk ma jsibx x’jaghmel ghax mal-privat jasal biss sa waiter, nirrangalu xi haga jien u thallsu intom cwiec.