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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2018 News 3 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A breakdown of the results by age group shows Muscat enjoying his highest rating at 46.2% among those aged 36 to 50. This is followed by the 18-35 age group, where Muscat has a trust rating of 43.4%. These two demographic segments are crucial to any political party because they encompass the largest group of voters with the highest disposable income. Muscat's strong showing in these two age groups is probably a ref lection of a successful economy that has created jobs and generated wealth. Delia's fortunes are high- est among those aged 65+, where he registers a trust rating of 23.9%. This coin- cides with the Prime Min- ister's lowest rating at 37%, which still puts Muscat 13 points ahead of his rival among pensioners. Delia's worst showing is among middle-aged voters where he only registers a trust rating of 11.1%, indica- tive of the PN leader's ina- bility, so far, to connect with the working-age population, a main economic driver. But the results are also conditioned by those who trust neither of the two leaders and those who are unsure who to trust. The 18-35 age group reg- isters the lowest percent- age of those who trust no one (9.1%) and the highest percentage of undecided (33.8%). The 36-50 age group regis- ters the highest percentage of those who trust no one (22.5%). The survey was conducted between 23 and 29 January and polled 501 respondents. A multiple imputation sys- tem was used to reduce the number of non-answers. Re- spondents were chosen us- ing stratified random sam- pling based on age, region and gender. The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 4.2%. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Age 18-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Joseph Muscat 43.4% 46.2% 37.3% 37% Adrian Delia 13.7% 11.1% 14.4% 23.9% None 9.1% 22.5% 17.4% 12.5% Don't know 33.8% 20.2% 31% 26.6% Delia trails in all age groups Delia's fortunes are highest among those aged 65+, where he registers a trust rating of 23.9% MATTHEW AGIUS KYLE Cesare, 22, and Emanuel Briffa, 23, who last month were hit by a life ban issued by UEFA's Control, Ethics and Discipli- nary Board, had originally been cleared of association for the purpose of committing a crime and of bribery of players by a court in Malta. The pair had been charged af- ter a teammate turned whistle- blower had alleged they had been bribed to fix the Malta- Montenegro European champi- onship qualifier match played on 23 March 2016. A court of magistrates had cleared the two footballers of the charges in August 2016, rul- ing that the young players were immature and that their judg- ment had been clouded by peer and social pressure. Cesare and Briffa had been de- clared not guilty because they had acted under "an extrane- ous force which they could not resist". But Judge Giovanni Grixti, presiding the Court of Appeal, observed that there was no evi- dence to support the first court's conclusion, pointing out that even the accused's lawyers had not taken up this line of defence. The Court said it failed to un- derstand how the Magistrates' Court could have safely reached its conclusion when "evidence, even if indicative, was unequiv- ocal and pointed in one direc- tion." The two players had not re- ported the approach to the au- thorities. Rather they had held two other meetings and had formulated a plan to lose the match. It was this plan that the court felt was sufficient to constitute the crucial element of the of- fence, which the first court had said was missing, the judge ob- served. In view of this, the Attorney General's appeal was upheld, and the earlier judgment re- voked. The judge declared the two footballers guilty of the charges, handing them two-year conditional discharges as they are first-time offenders. magius@mediatoday.com.mt Emanuel Briffa and Kyle Cesare were found guilty of match fixing by the court of appeal Judge overturns not- guilty sentence for two Malta footballers accused of match fixing