Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/497863
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 APRIL 2015 News 7 TIM DIACONO Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has kept his leadership afloat – at least, the euphoria conveyed by Na- tionalist activists and his overtures to the PN's inroads say as much. Yesterday Busuttil was upbeat about his party's local council elec- tions results, which despite Labour's convincing 54% victory, trium- phantly hailed them as a sign that the PN is "back in business". So upbeat was Busuttil, that he chose to refer to Joseph Muscat as just 'Joe', the abbreviated appella- tion once used by the PN in govern- ment to belittle the up-and-coming Labour leader. "Before today, people used to think that Joe Muscat was invincible, but these results prove that he isn't," Busuttil told a press conference. With the PN yesterday heading towards a 45% share of the local elections vote, Busuttil could say that he had improved his party's lot compared to the trouncing of 40% in 2012, when the PN in govern- ment was at its lowest ebb and also suffered the consequences of his- torically low turnouts. This time, it looked like increased turnouts from the hunting referen- dum had also rewarded the PN: in Attard, Balzan, Swieqi and Zurrieq the party's vote count was 45-68% higher than its 2012 vote count. Here turnouts were over 10 per- centage points from 2012 and as high as 17% in Balzan. "Every election since 2008 has seen the PN losing votes, but we have now managed to turn the situ- ation around into one where sup- port for the party has gone up," Bu- suttil said. "We have managed to reduce the gap by seven percentage points, a result that fills us with courage, mo- tivation, and determination." He referred to last year's European Parliament elections which the PL won by around 53% of the total vote. "We have managed to turn the situ- ation in only a year's time," Busuttil said. "We have started a marathon and we undoubtedly have a lot of work left to do, particularly among the people." Despite the PN having reduced the gap, the Labour Party made strong gains in Gozo and won the locality of Munxar for the first time since lo- cal government was introduced. But Busuttil played down the ex- tent of the Gozoworks allegations on former minister Giovanna Debono or the hunters' vote in the referen- dum on the sister island. "Muscat launched a large mudslinging cam- paign against the PN in Gozo," he said. "Plus, the local council cam- paigns coincided with the spring hunting referendum." When asked to respond to ac- cusations that he had shied away from journalists throughout the local councils campaign, Busuttil said that he had personally involved himself in the campaign, participat- ing in daily house visits and in PN activities. 'Muscat did all he could to influence spring hunting vote' During the referendum, a whop- ping 62.1% of the Gozitan electors voted in favour of the retention of a spring hunting season, rendering the Gozitan vote crucial to the Yes campaign's slim margin of victory. Proponents from the anti-spring hunting campaign have blamed Muscat for having contributed to the victory by speaking in favour of spring hunting on four occasions, twice while in Gozo. "Joe [sic] Muscat had promised not to influence the vote, but actually did all he could to influence it," Bu- suttil said. "After the result, he tried to make himself look good with both the hunters and the No voters." Busuttil however said that his own recorded message, the only state- ment he gave on the day of the ref- erendum vote, reflected his party's decision not to campaign. "We did not involve ourselves in the cam- paign, and neither did we involve ourselves in the result afterwards," the PN leader said. 'We're back in business' cries Busuttil on hearing the PN's heart beat Simon Busuttil toasts the PN's inroads in the local council elections: 'Muscat is no longer invincible'