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9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 MARCH 2022 LUKE VELLA PRIME Minister Robert Abela said that every lost vote by the Labour Party was not just a vote for PN but a vote that took Malta to the politics of the past. "Every lost vote is a vote that takes us back to the past. Let's send a clear message that this country is doing away with the politics of the past and want to move forward," Robert Abela said. He did however take Malta back by using the phrase "to- gether nothing is impossible", which is nothing but a word- play of the 2008 PN slogan of "together everything is possi- ble". During a rally in Paola on Tues- day evening, Abela continued appealing to all voters to show up early to vote on 26 March and ignore the surveys that gave a clear advantage to the Labour Party. "The bigger the mandate we re- ceive on 26 March, the humbler we will be and the more strength and courage we will have to complete reforms," Abela told the supporters. He said that the Labour gov- ernment faced endless opposi- tion from PN during its tenure, saying however that Govern- ment was a "strong and united team". "We need your trust so that our 1,000 proposals become 1,000 achievements for our country. We started releasing them from the first moments of the election campaign, and whenever we did so everyone would remark on how strong they are," Abela said in reaction to PN's mantra on Labour's late manifesto. Abela emphasised his party wanted to provide the opportu- nity to all to reach their aspira- tions and for all to become par- ents, inferring to the IVF reform it is pledging in the manifesto. In first 100 days, a Labour gov- ernment will change the IVF law to enable couples who have had unsuccessful IVF cycles, those with a medical history and others who have miscarried to benefit from the latest scientific technology. "The movement is not Robert Abela, nor the ministers and the candidates but all of us," Abela concluded, which ironically con- tradicts the PL's strategy of mak- ing the PM the sole protagonist during the campaign. 'Every lost vote takes us back to the politics of the past' - Robert Abela Robert Abela addressed a rally in Paola on Tuesday evening KARL AZZOPARDI OPPOSITION leader Bernard Grech has promised the Gozitan health sector will be among a Nationalist government's top priorities. "If there is something which needs changing in Gozo, it's the health sector, and we will give you back your hospi- tal," Grech told supporters in Rabat, Gozo on Tuesday evening. The PN leader said the difference be- tween the two parties' manifestos on Gozo is that the PL's is "recycled". He said Labour cannot be believed when it pledges a new hospital in Gozo. "It had to be carried out in 2013, then in 2017 and now they are promising again." "Why not stop the deal with Steward first, instead of promising a new hos- pital? The only credible promise is the PN's. That is why we want to first trash the Steward deal, and then build a new hospital," he told supporters. "How can you believe them?" He also said the PN is pledging oncol- ogy services in Gozo, as well as a new helipad at Mater Dei and the Gozo General Hospital. "For us it is not ac- ceptable to spend three hours to go to hospital, especially when you have a medical emergency." Grech also said the PN is promising significant investment in mobility be- tween the two islands, saying the Mgarr harbour has become "too small for Gozitans' aspirations". "What did Labour give you? A sec- ond-hand Greek ship. We promise to give you two new ships – a passenger ship, and a merchant ship, which will travel from Mgarr to the Grand Har- bour. Those are the proposals which will benefit you," he said. He also said that throughout the elec- tion campaign, people continued to re- alise that PM Robert Abela "only cares about himself", making reference to the purchase of an ODZ villa in Zejtun. "In recent days, we have learned that Robert Abela made a contract for an ODZ villa, five days after the permit was issued. A villa that he claimed to have purchased for €600,000, which after the permission was issued was worth at least €2 million," he said. "Robert Abela it has been the days since I challenged you to publish the tax commissioner report on the value of the property. You don't want to publish it because you're ashamed or because it wasn't done?" he challenged Abela. "You are a serial tax-evader." Grech also said a PN government will radically improve the education sector in Gozo. Grech: Gozitan health sector will be among PN government's top priorities

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