Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546363
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY 5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 AUGUST 2026 INTERVIEW It feels like quite a while since this year's general election. Before we get into how Momentum fits into this result, what's your interpretation of the result? We've analysed the election results and if I were to look at it detached from Momentum, the situation is that the gap between the two big parties narrowed substantially, but there are still a lot of people, around 17% of the electorate, who choose not to vote for either of them. Of that 17%, many choose not to vote at all, which is a signal in itself, though not the kind of signal we'd want people to send because it can be interpreted however you like— they are either not interested, or disillusioned. I personally believe the majority are disillusioned… From our end, the party had only existed for a year. So, in that one year we became the largest third party in Malta in terms of vote share. That's not the ideal result for us, but it is a positive one, and it brings us closer to being able to make a real difference through our actions and in future elections… As you say a large num- ber of voters chose not to vote and the vast major- ity chose the big parties. What was Momentum's assessment of its own result? There's always a strong campaign that comes out close to the election, against the third party. Every Facebook post I made, especially from the Opposition camp, had people writing that a vote for Momentum is a vote for Labour, a wasted vote, a hidden vote, in their words. Now, reality showed us that even if every single Momentum vote had gone to the Nationalist Party, it still wouldn't have changed the result. So, what we were seeing is a weak Opposition, and that's exactly why we believe there's a need for a third party to have a seat in parliament. We're even seeing it now, after the election. We release a statement on some issue, say education, and shortly after, the Opposition releases a similar statement on the same topic. Fine. But whenever we put out a press release about the big developments that are damaging the country, the Opposition stays silent… Have you identified things you might change in your approach? We got feedback from people who'd voted for us, and even from people who told us, "look, I didn't vote for you, but I wanted to because I believe in having a third party," and so on. One thing that came up was the need for us to be more present among people. We're trying, but obviously we need to do more. Rome wasn't built in a day. We have a lot of work to do and we need to reach more people… I think this election made an impact in that a lot more people now know Momentum exists and know what it represents… Let's change the subject. Let's talk about Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder and Yorgen Fenech's trial. Without getting into the merits of the case itself, certain revelations about politics and business have come to light. As a politi- cian, what struck you from this trial? Look, what this trial certainly does is confirm things that are very negative; things that are deeply upsetting when you realise how things actually work. Even though we already suspected as much, this is now confirming it. Big businesspersons have a strong grip on the big parties. They have direct access. When they need to speak to a CEO, they just speak to a CEO; get things sorted, and so on. These are things a lot of people might tell you are normal but it's a 'normal' we've been taught to accept, and it's actually very damaging… What are the lessons we should take from this trial? In our manifesto, the majority of our proposals were built around good governance. The things that keep coming out are clear signals of bad governance. These connections between businessmen and those running the country show that government's priority is not the people out there, but rather these business interests that keep influencing where the country is heading. That's why one of our proposals was to criminalise political favours. Everyone will tell you it's normal to call a minister if you have a hospital appointment to skip the queue. Maybe a lot of people are willing to accept it, and a lot of people believe that's how things get done, but it's deeply wrong… If we look again at the re- sults of the last election, we saw how many people voted for the smaller parties. When you look at that result, do you think there's a genuine appetite out there for the kind of change you're describing? I believe there's a lot of anger and frustration out there. I don't like working off negative feelings, I'd rather offer something positive, to inspire people out there to go and vote for a third party. In one year, that's as far as we managed to get. I don't think it was a bad result, but we need to keep building… We need to convert a lot of those non-voters. But at the same time, I don't believe that someone who votes for one party or another is a lost cause—quite the opposite, I believe we have a lot to offer them too… It might not be fair, but bad governance also creates the incentive for people to believe they can also benefit from it. I believe there are a lot of people who don't think that way and who understand, when they think it through, when they talk about what's going wrong, that working in a completely selfish way isn't the way forward. Maybe I am being optimistic, but I think there's a large chunk of people like that, and in principle I believe everyone has good intentions. I start from that assumption.