LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Five weeks of electoral campaigning came to an end last night, as Malta will vote on Saturday to elect a new government and a new parliament. The general election campaign ended with Labour Prime Minister Robert Abela addressing a huge of enthusiastic supporters during an animated event in Tà Qali while the Nationalist leader Bernard Grech made his final speech before a big crowd of supporters gathered in Valletta.
Final opinion polls envisage an electoral win for the Labour Party with a margin between 26,000 and 39,000 votes. It is also predected a low turnout of 88%, the lowest since 1955. Both leaders used their final speeches before silent day to address the undecided voters as fear mounts that there will be a lower turnout this year. A total of 14,473 voting documents were not collected, almost double that of the previous election.
Labour Leader Robert Abela stressed that staying home is not an option, and that people should go out and vote. “Let your vote be the answer. Lend me your trust for my very first mandate,” adding that he will continue building on the good foundations and bring about more reforms. “Let’s turn this dream into reality. Together with you – students, pensioners and businesses. The future is bright”, Abela said.
Opposition leader Bernard Grech said that if voters do not to want to be treated like numbers, if they want to live in country where meritocracy rules over nepotism and submission to power, if they want to be proud of their country, if people want to live in a safe country, they have only one option. That of voting PN. “Democracy is at stake” and only the Nationalist Party can offer hope of a better future. He added “Malta is once again at a crossroads, and allow me to address you as a father who doesn’t distinguish between his children. Grech said “Malta is calling us and we must realise that democracy is at stake, with a near total collapse of the country’s institutions.”
A new generation will be voting for the first time this Saturday, being the first general election in which the voting age has been lowered from 18 to 16.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews