Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/191652
9 mt survey maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2013 COLEIRO PRECA MOST POPULAR, ANTON REFALO WEAKEST LINK JAMES DEBONO VETERAN Labour MP and Social Policy Minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has emerged as the most positively rated minister in Joseph Muscat's cabinet. 61% of all respondents, including 28% of Nationalist voters in last March's election, deemed her performance to be positive. This emerges from Malta Today's Rate the Minister survey, which has been held annually in October since 2005. The last minister to surpass the 60% mark was Dolores Cristina, whose performance as social policy minister was judged positively by 62% of respondents in 2009. Coleiro Preca's strong affirmation in the survey confirms the popularity of social policy ministers in Maltese politics. In fact, with the exception of Tourism Minister Mario de Marco in 2012 and Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnini in 2010, the Rate the Minister survey has been dominated by ministers occupying the social policy or the education portfolio. The survey also shows Muscat's rating increasing by nine points over last July, when respondents were also asked to assess his performance as prime minister. But despite the presidential style of the PM, two of his ministers, namely Coleiro Preca and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, enjoy higher ratings than Joseph Muscat. Muscat shared the third spot with Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella, just ahead of Education Minister Evarist Bartolo. Hitting rock bottom is Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, whose performance was deemed positive by just 26% of respondents. A significant 41% were undecided on his performance. Over the past weeks, the Minister for Gozo faced accusation of impropriety, after a Gozo Channel ship, which had left shore empty was ordered back to pick up a small group of people, which included Refalo. Refalo's performance is judged negatively by 22% of respondents, the highest negative rating received by a minister in the survey. But the survey suggests that, while Refalo has taken some flak due to the media focus, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi has not been significantly weakened by accusations of nepotism following the appointment of his wife, Sai Mizzi Liang, as a Malta Enterprise Envoy. In fact Mizzi's performance as minister was deemed positive by 53% of respondents. Mizzi also emerged as the most positively rated minister among switchers – that is, respondents who voted PN in 2008 and PL in 2013. Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, also the focus of various accusations of impropriety in the past months, was judged positively by 44% of respondents, behind Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and just above Finance Minister Edward Scicluna. Mallia also attracted the secondhighest negative rating, alongside Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia. Closely trailing Edward Scicluna are Finance Minister George Vella, Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli and Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia, all of whom surpassed the 40% mark. Only four ministers, namely Economy Minister Chris Cardona, VicePrime Minister Louis Grech, Environment Minister Leo Brincat and Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, failed to surpass the 40% mark. Surprisingly, Vice-Prime Minister and European Affairs Minister Louis Grech, who took centre stage in the electoral campaign after he replaced Anglu Farrugia as party deputy leader, seems to have lost his sparkle in the past months. Grech gets the third-lowest positive rating, alongside Economy Minister Chris Cardona, but also the secondlowest negative rating. In fact, the two ministers sharing the foreign affairs portfolio, namely Vella and Grech, Main Findings • Mar ie Louise Coleir o rated minister, foll Preca most positively owed by Energy M inister Konrad Mizzi • Joseph Muscat judge respondents, up fr d positively by 51% of om 42% in July • Mar ie Louise C oliero more positively ra Preca and Konrad Mizzi ted than the Prim e Minister • Anton Refalo le ast positively rate d min but 41% could not assess his perform ister, ance • One-third could not assess Vice-Pri me Minister Louis Grech's perfo rmance • Marie Louise C oleiro most positively ra Preca and Evarist Bartolo ted by Nationalist voters • Konrad Mizzi m ost positively rate d by switchers • 47% trust Jose ph Muscat, while 3 1% trust Simon Busuttil • Muscat increase s tru while Busuttil incr st rating by eight points, eases rating by fo ur points • Busuttil trust rating up from 73% in June to 86% now among P N voters are also the least disliked in Muscat's cabinet. But both get lower ratings than ministers occupying bread-andbutter portfolios where they can re- tain contact with constituents. Labour veteran Leo Brincat also seems to suffer from this factor, with a considerable 24% having deemed his performance to be "so-so", while only 36% deemed his performance to be positive. CONTINUES ON PAGE 10