Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1189024
KURT SANSONE JOSEPH Muscat has con- firmed that he will be resign- ing from Labour leader and Prime Minister in January after the party elects his suc- cessor. In a televised address on TVM, Muscat said that his time was up and had instruct- ed the party to kick-start a leadership contest that should be concluded by 12 January. Muscat said that he in- formed the President of the Republic with this plan of ac- tion. The announcement came af- ter a fortnight of political tur- moil caused by the arrest and eventual arraignment of Yor- gen Fenech in relation to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Fenech has implicated Keith Schembri, former chief of staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, in the mur- der. Schembri was arrested and interrogated but later re- leased by the police. The Prime Minister has faced repeated calls for his resignation with Valletta yes- terday seeing one if the larg- est protests so far. In a choreographed address, Muscat said the country needed to turn a new chapter and he had to be the one to deliver that. Muscat said his time was up and would be informing the Labour Party officials to kick- start the leadership race. On the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder, Muscat said that he had kept his word to have this case solved on his watch. He said investigations were ongoing and insisted "no one is above the law". He insisted that over the past two years he had to shoulder the weight of decisions that he had to take alone. "But this weight pales into insig- nificance when compared to the weight that the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia had to shoulder," Muscat said. "It is not right that a person, with her good and bad, who contributed to democracy had to be killed this way... The anger and disappointment are understandable and it is never justified to somehow justify the murder. But neither can disorder and violence be jus- tified under the guise of pro- test," Muscat said. The Prime Minister said that over the past years he 2 maltatoday | MONDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2019 NEWS LABOUR MPs yesterday voted unanimously to give Joseph Muscat the final decision on how he should proceed in the lead-up to a Labour leadership election that will be held on the 18 January, 2020. Malta is engulfed in a politi- cal crisis since Muscat's former chief of staff Keith Schembri was embroiled in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder investi- gation, which has now seen the Tumas magnate and 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech, charged with having masterminded the assassination. It means that Muscat has not yet resigned, and as things stand, could stay on as PM up until the Labour leadership election. But now Muscat risks facing scenes of constant protest and civil disobedience as the prime minister appears to have lost moral legitimacy with revela- tions that Schembri could have attempted to frame minister Chris Cardona in the assassi- nation – something he denies; and that he was privy to Secu- rity Service briefings on Fenech and middleman Melvin Theu- ma, with whom he was photo- graphed inside his Castille of- fice. Yesterday Muscat was said to prefer having a first round of voting on his successor by paid-up party members on the 8-9 January 2020, followed by a second round on 14-15 January for delegates. But different dates have been leaked to the press. The final decision is a closely- kept secret held by Muscat and his two deputies, Chris Fearne and Chris Cardona. Chris Cardona was also re- instated as minister, after hav- ing resigned from the Cabinet earlier this week. Cardona had announced he was suspending himself pending police inves- tigations, after he was called in for questioning along with one member of his secretariat. Joseph Muscat was already facing a growing push within his Cabinet and parliamentary group to step down immedi- ately, making way for an interim leader. Yet MPs keep unani- mously giving Muscat their sup- port in guiding the way forward up until his definite exit. A large group of disappointed and angry MPs are insisting the party is in no mood to hold a po- tentially divisive leadership con- test over the Christmas period in these circumstances. These MPs are arguing that Muscat must step down im- mediately and the President appoint deputy prime minister Chris Fearne as prime minister for an interim period. Labour's parliamentary group yesterday at the prime minister's summer residence of Girgenti had to discuss Muscat's poten- tial exit, and whether he should leave now or stay on till January, when a new Labour leader will be elected, or whether an in- terim prime minister should be appointed. MPs met after a harrowing day where the Tumas magnate and Electrogas shareholder Yorgen Fenech was charged with mas- terminding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Since then the PM's former chief of staff Keith Schembri has resigned, implicated by dint of his knowledge that Fenech was being investigated, and having had a secretive business rela- tionship with him for the past years. MPs give Muscat backing Girgenti meeting Muscat to stay on as PM during difficult 42-day window 'My time is up': Muscat to resign in new year • Labour expected to have a new leader in place by 12 January