Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/635436
www.maltatoday.com.mt wednesday edition €1.00 Newspaper post wednesday • 3 february 2016 • issue 454 • published every wednesday and sunday Mizzi expected to be uncontested in Labour deputy leadership vote Relative newcomer Konrad Mizzi will probably be an uncontested candidate for the post of labour's deputy leadership for party affairs according to sources close to the Office of the Prime Minister. the energy and health minister, who was elected to Parliament in his first attempt in 2013, is expected to be unanimously ap- proved at the party's next general confer- ence at the weekend. Mizzi – one of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's most trusted lieutenants – is said to have decided of his own free will to contest and his decision was embraced by Muscat. the energy minister has made it very clear to party insiders that his only interest is to modernise the party and insisted he has no leadership aspirations. He will be replacing toni abela, who was nominated for the european Court of au- ditors. During his eight-year tenure abela has been very popular with the party grass roots, especially with veterans, but he had not been heavily involved in the organisa- tional structure of the party since this was the remit of the CeO. His departure was catalysed by an open secret that he was finding the political pressure too much to handle and that he wanted a change. But in spite of his fiery character he remained loyal to Muscat. labour insiders have described the state of the party as pitiable and there has also been much criticism for CeO and former labour MP Gino Cauchi, who has failed to galvanise change in the party structure and lacks the popularity to attract more volun- teers and members to the party. the dire state of the party structure has attracted the attention of the Prime Min- ister, who has expressed his concern that without a strong party structure he will suffer at the polls. Konrad Mizzi has been widely acclaimed for his energetic and unorthodox style. Be- sides being popular with the party's hardcore for piloting the energy tariff reduction, his f lair and de- livery interspersed with english idioms have also endeared him to switchers. But he has also been taken to task for the employment of his wife Sai Mizzi on the gov- ernment payroll and the long drawn implementation of the new power station. Nonetheless he remains one of Muscat's more reputable ministers and achievers and his elec- tion would mean that together with deputy leader for party affairs louis Grech, the trium- virate would form a for- midable team for the next election. See More on PAGeS 6-7 Malta set to become 'pioneer' in criminalising revenge porn TiM DiAcono Malta looks set to become one of the first european countries to criminalise revenge porn – with a draft law proposing that it be- come punishable by a maximum two years' imprisonment or a fine ranging between €3,000 and €5,000. Justice minister Owen Bonnici told a press briefing that anybody caught sharing revenge porn pic- tures or videos by any means will be subject to the penalty, regard- less of whether they had distrib- uted it or continued the chain. this proposal is part of a pack- age of laws that Bonnici presented to Parliament last night for de- bate. Notably, the amendments call for the removal of a law that pun- ishes the vilification of the Roman Catholic religion that has been in place since 1933. Bonnici allayed fears that this will allow people to incite reli- gious hatred – noting that the incitement of hatred based on re- ligion, gender, race, sexuality, gen- der identity or political belief is already illegal according to a more recent law, and will remain so. archbishop Charles Scicluna de- scribed as 'almost diabolical' the government's plans to decrimi- nalize vilification. "i don't see the difference be- tween hate crime and vilifica- tion, other than that the latter forbids people from making fun or making caricature of Roman Catholicism," Bonnici retorted. "in a democratic country, people should be free to make fun of reli- gions, while not inciting hatred." Parliament starts debating proposals to criminalise revenge porn, decriminalise pornography, vilification of roman catholicism, safeguard artistic freedom PAGe 5