VZCZCXRO5322
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVT #0265/01 1791749
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271749Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY VALLETTA
TO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES  PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1634

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VALLETTA 000265 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MT
SUBJECT: MALTA: "CHANGE" CANDIDATE ELECTED AS LEADER OF 
OPPOSITION LABOR PARTY 
 
REF: VALLETTA 097 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The opposition Malta Labor Party (MLP) has 
a new leader: Joseph Muscat, who for the past several years 
has represented Malta in the European Parliament. At 34 
Muscat is the youngest candidate to contest the post, and ran 
on a campaign of change and a promise to strengthen and unite 
the party. However, a week after Muscat took the helm of the 
party, two MLP veterans were elected to deputy leadership 
positions, suggesting that the MLP is not completely ready 
for sweeping changes.  Anglu Farrugia has been elected Deputy 
Leader for Parliamentary Affairs, and Toni Abela will be 
Deputy Leader for Party Affairs. End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On June 6, in a run-off for the leadership of the 
Malta Labor Party, Joseph Muscat garnered 65% of the votes 
for new party leader.  Muscat,s victory came as no surprise, 
as his candidacy for the post had been blessed by former MLP 
leader Alfred Sant, who resigned the leadership after the 
MLP,s third consecutive defeat in the March general 
elections.  Among the party delegates, who were the only 
voters in the leadership contest, Sant,s opinion still 
carries considerable weight. Sant,s influence over the 
process was evident in the first round of voting on June 5, 
when Muscat fell just short of the 50% threshold to be 
elected without a run-off, even with 5 candidates in the 
race. 
 
¶3. (U) Though the MLP suffered only the narrowest of defeats 
in the March elections (reftel), many thought the MLP needed 
new direction and a fresh face. Muscat promised change when 
he threw his hat into the ring for the leadership position, 
calling for change and unity in the Party, and stating that 
&while embracing free trade and encouraging the 
entrepreneurial spirit, we have to reaffirm that which 
defines us: our social compassion." He added that "the 
helping hand of government should be ever present" and that 
"our common challenges should be the pursuit for full 
employment and the creation of a knowledge society.8 Within 
days of his assuming leadership, Muscat met with Prime 
Minister Lawrence Gonzi; the two men embraced and agreed that 
it was important for Labor and the Nationalist Party &to 
work together for the common good of the country.8  Muscat 
elaborated that his brand of politics was to &confront ideas 
without antagonism" and to not hesitate to "agree (with the 
government) on issues we believe in.8 
 
¶4. (U) Muscat did not run in the March 2008 general elections 
and does not have a seat in Parliament.  When Parliament 
convenes in September, a yet-to-be-determined MLP 
parliamentarian will resign, allowing Muscat to be "co-opted" 
into the empty seat.  Until that time, MP Charles Mangion, 
the previous Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs, will 
officially be the Labor leader. 
 
BIOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND ON THE NEW LEADERSHIP: 
 
¶5. (U) Muscat was elected to the European Parliament in 2004, 
garnering the most votes of the Labor candidates, which won 
three of Malta,s five seats in the European Parliament.  The 
MLP Members of European Parliament (MEP) form part of the 
Socialist Group.   He is the Vice-Chairman of the Committee 
on Economic and Monetary Affairs as well as the Delegation 
for relations with Belarus.  At 34 years old, Muscat is the 
second-youngest person to hold the leadership of Malta,s 
Labor Party, the youngest was Dom Mintoff, who ruled the MLP 
from 1949-1984. 
 
¶6. (U) Anglu Farrugia was elected to be Deputy Leader for 
Parliamentary Affairs on June 13 with 65% of the delegates, 
votes.  He is a MLP veteran ) in 2003 he unsuccessfully 
contested for the party leadership against Sant; and in 1998, 
unsuccessfully contested for the position of deputy leader 
for party affairs.  Farrugia entered parliament in 1996, when 
Labor was in the majority.  He has never held a ministerial 
post, though he has served as the Shadow Spokesman for 
Justice and Home Affairs.  Prior to entering parliament, 
Farrugia worked as a police superintendent and then qualified 
to practice as a lawyer.  Farrugia was nominated by Embassy 
Valletta to attend a seminar at the Marshall Center in August 
¶2007. 
 
¶7. (U) Toni Abela was elected as the Deputy Leader for Party 
Affairs with more than 60% of the vote.  Abela qualifies as 
another MLP veteran.  At the age of 29, he held the post of 
party president.  In the 1980s after he was ex-communicated 
from the Labor Party for criticizing its administration, he 
co-founded the Green Party with Harry Vassallo (leader of the 
 
VALLETTA 00000265  002 OF 002 
 
 
Green Party until 2008).  While Abela is not a 
parliamentarian, he used this to his advantage to reassure 
the delegates that he would dedicate himself to reforming the 
party,s administration. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) As Muscat spends the majority of his time in 
Brussels, the Embassy has had minimal direct communication 
with him.  Ambassador is scheduled to meet with him at the 
MLP headquarters on July 7; all indications are that Muscat 
intends to maintain the open and largely friendly channels of 
communication that prevailed with Sant. The foreign policy 
direction of the MLP under Muscat,s leadership is not yet 
clear, and he has yet to appoint a new slate of MLP 
parliamentarians for the Foreign and European Affairs 
Committee.  On certain social issues -- most notably divorce, 
previously an untouchable for both parties -- Muscat has said 
it should be part of the agenda for debate and discussion, 
leaving some hope that he may be more open to new ideas than 
his NAM-flavored, anti-US Navy ship visit rhetoric would 
suggest. 
DAVIS