Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546553
Albert Buttigieg: 'Both parties remain conditioned by the desires, the greed of certain individuals' 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 SEPTEMBER 2026 INTERVIEW FORMER Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg sounds the alarm on Malta's need to in- troduce state financing for political parties. In his first interview with MaltaToday since ending his political career after failing to get elected in parliament in June's general election, Butti- gieg says the result shows that politicians need to answer for the disinterested voters. On his experience in local and national politics, Butt- igieg says politicians, who remain true to their values aren't always appreciated; get- ting votes remains the name of the game. Speaking before Yorgen Fenech's acquittal, the ex-MP says the trial revealed that Malta is in a "precarious situ- ation" with a slow erosion of its values. I ask Buttigieg about the big parties' shift away from their respective ideals and he replies that the Labour Par- ty and the Nationalist Party end up harming society when "they don't understand that Malta doesn't belong to the few in the business commu- nity". He also speaks of the frustra- tion that is seeping into Mal- tese society when ordinary people see those who scratch the political parties' backs, expecting to be rewarded. "These people close to the parties believe Malta is theirs." Ex-MP Albert Buttigieg believes Malta's two big parties are too reliant on the business interests that keep them financially af loat. Sitting down with Matthew Farrugia, he insists that state party financing is the only way to end the inf luence