Labour leadership hopeful Robert Abela pulled out of a business discussion with rival candidate Chris Fearne on Friday.  

Organised by the Chamber of Commerce, the ‘Let’s talk business’ event was meant to see the two leadership hopefuls answer members' questions related to the economy. 

A spokesman for the chamber said that Dr Abela had informed them on Thursday evening that he would not be attending, and instead agreed to send a recorded message answering a number of the Chambers’ questions on video. 

The recording however had only arrived once the event was over, the spokesman said, adding that Dr Abela had not given a reason for backing out of the event.  

Attempts to reach a spokesman for the Labour Party and Dr Abela for comment were unsuccessful by the time of writing. 

A reluctant communicator

Dr Abela has run hot and cold when it comes to interviews and debates throughout the election campaign, which draws to a close on Saturday. He has not been forthcoming when it comes to requests to be interviewed by the independent media, including Times of Malta.

Meanwhile, Chamber President David Xuereb asked Mr Fearne for a meeting next week, should he win Saturday’s election race, to present him with 65 of their proposals on good governance, including one proposing the creation of a minister responsible for good governance. 

Fielding questions from journalist Mario Xuereb, Mr Fearne said the period of uncertainty following developments in the investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia had hit the economy.  

That said, he was confident that the country would bounce back.