Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/797847
Newspaper post PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI INSIDE THE PN maltatoday today today SUNDAY • 12 MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 905 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.40 A year before election, Labour leads by 4 points, Muscat retains 7-point trust lead How Simon Busuttil's shock declaration risks scaring off business links PN needs to bolster its electoral effort Alan Deidun: Beyond the Azure Window, the threat to our natural heritage YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT JAMES DEBONO MALTATODAY'S latest survey – carried out a year before a general election ear- marked by the Prime Minister for March 2018 is to be held – shows the Labour Pa- try leading the Nationalist Party by four points, and Joseph Muscat enjoying a trust lead of 7.1 points over Simon Busut- til, slightly up from 6.8 points in Novem- ber. The survey, in which 700 respondents were contacted by telephone and accepted to par- ticipate, was carried out between Wednesday, 1 March and Wednesday, 8 March. Since the last survey in November the coun- try was also rocked by an escalation of politi- cal controversy in the aftermath of allegations by the Malta Independ- ent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia that minister Chris Cardona had been seen inside a German brothel – now the sub- ject of four defamation cases; and the visit of MEPs from the PANA committee, who categorically stated that minister Konrad Mizzi's offshore set-up in Panama raised suspicions of money laundering. But MaltaToday's survey suggests that these events have not significantly altered the political landscape. And with both leaders' trust ratings edging slightly upwards to the detriment of those not voting or undecided, any gains that the PN could have acquired in the past months may have been offset by news that it re- ceived donations from the DB Group, the com- pany it hit out at over the €60 million land deal, news of which broke out in the last three days of the survey. PGS 10-11 MALTATODAY SURVEY MICHAEL FALZON 21 "Simon's bravado knee-jerk reaction was simply that – bravado that solves nothing but exposes everything" Women mark feminist milestone in call to arms for gender equality PAGES 2-3 TRUST RATING 40.2% 33.1% +0.6pp +0.3pp Trust rating among 700 respondents in March 2017, and difference over last survey in November 2016 ABOVE THE LAW? Political party companies have not submitted their accounts for years 6 7 14 15 today today SUNDAY • 12 MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 905 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY today • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY today MALTATODAY SURVEY Death by a thousand blows