Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/823875
ELECTION SPECIAL €1.00 Newspaper post SEE FULL REPORTS PAGE 4,5 MONDAY • 15 MAY 2017 • ISSUE 526 • WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT ELECTIONS DAYS TO GO 19 MIRIAM DALLI "I never lied. And I will resign if the in- quiry links any member of my family to the [Panamanian] company Egrant, even if the inquiry is published a day before the general election, or a day af- ter. I know that I am telling the truth," Muscat said. "But others won't accept the same challenge, knowing that they've based everything on a lie and fabricated documents. They took people to the streets based on this fabricated lie. Simon Busuttil is scared because he knows he sullied my name on a lie." Muscat said that the PN leader's "thirst for power" had pushed him to harm the country. "He is not fit for purpose. A prime minister needs to take decisions from morning to even- ing. I shoulder them every day. My word counts. But Simon Busuttil's word is only as strong as clay can be." Muscat: I am telling the truth Felix Busuttil: 'I'm Gozitan, gay and in a civil union. I support Muscat' GOZITAN dancer and founder of one of Malta's leading dance companies, Felix Busuttil, in a powerful address that left thousands gathered in Naxx- ar stunned, has urged the electorate to vote for the Labour movement. Addressing supporters ahead of La- bour leader Joseph Muscat's speech, Busuttil delivered a heartfelt message explaining how voting for the Labour government had changed his life. "I'm Gozitan. I'm gay and in a civil union. I will soon get married. I stand behind Joseph," Busuttil said. Busuttil said that the introduction of civil unions, and now Labour's pledge to make marriage equal for all, had made him realize that he would no longer be invisible. Busuttil said that Joseph Muscat may have not been supported by everyone when he pledged the introduction of civil unions but he still believed in jus- tice. As the Muscat couple battles allega- tions of owning a secret company in Panama, Felix Busuttil said that "Jo- seph and Michelle had to grow a thick skin". "And I cannot but be as courageous as they. I've always risked and will continue to do so, to fight for my love. Don't be scared of being who you are. Don't hold back from expressing your beliefs… just like Michelle Obama said: 'When they go low, we go high'." Felix Busuttil (Photo: Chris Mangion/MediaToday) "We have learnt from our mistakes" - Busuttil We will work side by side for the good of the country – Godfrey Farrugia YANNICK PACE "WE have learnt from our mistakes and we will not repeat them. We will be there for you more than ever be- fore," Simon Busuttil said. Busuttil was addressing a PN mass meeting in Haz-Zebbug where he said that Malta was lucky to have al- ways been led by great leaders, lead- ers "who love Malta above all else". "Leaders from different parties, like Eddie Fenech Adami, for whom our country was everything and who worked hard for democracy in our country and for Malta to be in its natural home, Europe," said Busut- til. He said the country also had lead- ers whom the Nationalist Party had not always agreed with, such as Dom Mintoff. "Although we did not always agree with them, they believed Malta came first and above all else," he added. PARTIT Demokratiku candidate and former Labour Whip Godfrey Farrugia has said that, if elected to power, the Forza Nazzjonali coalition would act in the interest of the country and would seek consensus in the way it governed. Speaking at the PN meeting in his hometown of Haz-Zebbug, Farrugia said he was always taught to choose Malta and to always be on the right side of history. He said that when he was the inde- pendent mayor of Haz-Zebbug, he had shown that it was possible to work across party lines for the good of soci- ety, as would Forza Nazzjonali. "We will work side by side for the good of our country," he said. Farrugia said that before the general election was called, he had written a letter to the Prime Minister, a man he said he had worked with and respected, in the hope that the Labour Party in government could use the last year of the legislature to "change direction". "Instead we chose the road of tarnish- ing our country's name," said Farrugia. "In Castille there is Keith Schembri, a man who has forgotten what the na- tional interest is, and only wants to cover his tracks, so much so that an early election was called." He argued that those running the La- bour Party believed that being a gentle- man and quiet man was a sign of weak- ness, insisting this was not the case. Farrugia underscored his belief that the whole point of politics was to do good. "We have reached a point where we must all ask ourselves, what is the point of politics," said Farrugia. "Are we embracing the values that define us as a society? We know what the Labour Party's leadership has chosen." Godfrey Farrugia (Photo: James Bianchi/ MediaToday)