'Absolutely not': Abela denies calling early election due to Yorgen trial

Updated 11am

Robert Abela on Wednesday dismissed claims that the trial by jury of Yorgen Fenech over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had any bearing on his decision to call an early election.

In April, the prime minister called a snap election for May 30, nine months before his administration's term was due to end.

His party went on to win the general election, securing an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in government.

Throughout the electoral campaign, Abela pointed to “extraordinary international situation” as the reason behind the early election.

Fenech's trial kicked off on Wednesday, almost seven years since the businessman was arrested, and one month after the election.

On the day the trial kicked off, Times of Malta asked Abela whether he had called an early election to precede the trial. The prime minister said the trial was "absolutely never a criterion I took into consideration".

He reiterated it was global events that had dictated the date of the general election.

"I've already said that the national interest dictated that that was the right moment to call an election - also in the context of geopolitical challenges that we turned into opportunities... we had a month of intensive work that is yielding nice results."

When pressed, he insisted the trial never crossed his mind, as he and the government he leads have nothing to do with the trial.

"There is no connection between the government led by me and the trial," he insisted.

However, Jason Azzopardi, a former MP and lawyer for the Caruana Galizia family, disputed Abela's denial. 

"At the beginning of last January (six weeks before the US attack on Iran on 28 February 2026, when the international crisis began), I publicly wrote that the election would be held before June. I wrote that because I knew the jury would begin on 1 July, but I was bound by a court order not to disclose it," he said.

Addressing Abela, he said the prime minister was informed about the date of the trial on the day it was decided.

"That is why I was certain you would announce the election for a date before June. A full year in advance. And I publicly wrote that you would call an early election before June 2026.

"Now those clever people (including some within the Nationalist Party) who mocked me or doubted what I had written, and who continued to ridicule me until the end of April, know that I was telling the truth," he said. 

The murder triggered one of the country's deepest political crisis. Mass protests followed Fenech's arrest, ultimately leading to the resignation of then prime minister Joseph Muscat, with a public inquiry later concluding that the state had created an atmosphere of impunity that enabled the assassination.

Among others, prosecutors say Fenech financed the murder of Caruana Galizia, settled the final payment afterwards and later helped fund the legal defence of the men accused of carrying it out. Fenech denies the accusations.