‘The Labour party has enemies within’ – Former Minister Evarist Bartolo
Former Labour Minister, Evarist Bartolo, said that there is no strong leadership in the Labour party, and the PL is losing its support due to the enemies within the same party.
In a Facebook post, Bartolo said that the Labour Party is being “pulled in different directions by different personal interests – like a ship caught in a storm with different winds and currents”.
“There is no strong leadership to chart a new course for its and our country’s benefit. While it will not have problems with the number of votes it gets in the European Parliament election and will surpass the PN, it has serious longterm problems because it is alienating parts of our society”, Bartolo said.
He continued that the Labour party remains the natural home of those with the lowest income and those with the primary and secondary levels of education.
“It is losing the support of those earning €2,000 and more per month and those with post-secondary and university education. This is not a good sign. To be a party with a state and Government culture, it cannot be a tribe of just a part of the population”, Bartolo said.
He said that since its inception, the PL wanted to be the party of those held down and deprived of a decent life, but from the beginning, it had worked to attract people from all walks of life and society.
“In its 103 years of existence, it won elections when it managed to attract the core of workers and those from other social classes who wanted a good standard of living in a free Malta, with a modern state and human and civil rights”, Bartolo said.
He said that in those 103 years, it has always had to face forces that wanted to destroy it and have done, and still do everything to destroy it.
“But the greatest harm to the Labour Party has always been done by those within it when they used it for their personal interests – to fatten their pockets”, Bartolo said.
He quoted an African proverb which says : “When you have no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot harm you.”
He said that when it had no internal enemies, the Labour party had managed to defeat, sooner or later, the external enemies, such as the British colonial government, the Conservative Church and the local social class.
“It lost elections when, due to internal enemies who used the party for their personal interests, it lost the broad support it once enjoyed”, Bartolo said.
He called for the need for strong and wise leadership, as at this time, the Labour party is going through another phase where it is “shrinking”.
“It is not yet in danger of losing the election, because the PN is not succeeding in attracting those who are moving away from the Labour party”, Bartolo said.
He continued that to stop the loss of support it is experiencing, the Labour party needs to address the serious problems created by internal enemies : not only in terms of political leadership and corruption, but also from strong economic growth that brought wealth and jobs, mentioning that the country’s systems, such as sewage, cannot cope with the increase in population and tourists.
“Other systems are facing great pressure. Meanwhile, the country continues to fill up with people, buildings and cars, as if we can continue like this indefinitely. Before a party loses an election, it starts losing the wisdom and moral authority to lead”, Bartolo said.
He said that awareness within the PL that it is losing support is growing, but “the ship is caught too much in different winds and currents, preventing it from being focused with strong and wise leadership to get it out of the storm and chart a new course for its and the country’s benefit.”