Agius Saliba quashes snap election talk: 'We have not discussed this'

Alex Agius Saliba has moved to quash rumours about a snap election, saying the Labour Party “feels no urgency” to call one and has not discussed any eventual electoral date. 

The Labour deputy leader and MEP said the party never had any plans of announcing an election during its party congress, which ended on Friday evening with a glitzy event featuring party leader and Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Abela told congress attendees and party delegates that the ideas discussed during the five-day event would help share Labour’s manifesto for the next general election.

The prime minister has until March 2027 to call a general election but the decision to hold a party congress under the theme “Malta Aqwa!” [which Labour translates as ‘A Stronger Malta’] triggered widespread talk of an imminent snap election.

According to the Labour Party’s statute, the congress can meet to elect a party leader, at the behest of the party’s executive committee or “before a general election to discuss the political guidelines of the party”.

In 2022, the party held its congress after Abela had already announced a general election date, and used the event to launch its manifesto for that campaign officially.

Speaking on Saturday to Campus FM show host Andrew Azzopardi, Agius Saliba said this time he wanted the party to discuss its ideas without the pressure of a looming election.

“I wanted us to have an open, honest discussion before a campaign, not in the midst of one,” Agius Saliba, who serves as Labour’s deputy leader for party affairs, said.  

“A lot of people genuinely thought this was a sign we were going to announce an election, but it was just to establish guidelines for the election, not to announce one.”

“We have no rush or urgency to trigger an election. We don’t feel that sense of urgency,” he insisted.

Agius Saliba brushed aside suggestions that a sudden flood of billboards added to local roads was further evidence that a general election was around the corner, saying the party always advertised heavily ahead of its annual Workers’ Day rally on May 1.

Calling an election was entirely the prime minister’s prerogative, Agius Saliba insisted.

“Neither my colleagues nor I are aware of any [electoral] date,” he said, saying that while he and other Labour leaders have started discussing the party’s electoral manifesto, there has been no discussion about the election’s date.

“To this day, there has been no need to discuss this. We have not had any discussions about that until today.”