General election on April 12

The prime minister yesterday made the widely expected announcement that the general election would be held on April 12.

Dr Fenech Adami made the announcement during a news conference at the Auberge de Castille, in Valletta shortly after calling on President Guido de Marco who took his advice to dissolve parliament with immediate effect and signed the general election writ.

The prime minister said he had convened a Cabinet meeting in the morning and then met with the parliamentary group.

He said he had purposely waited for the Labour Party's reaction to the result of last Saturday's referendum on EU accession before announcing the election date.

"Dr (Alfred) Sant is ridiculing the referendum. It is clear that all Dr Sant wants to do is to prolong the uncertainty. My duty is to ensure that the country continues to move ahead. In the national interest I decided we had to call an early election to ensure the vote taken at the referendum would be affirmed in the election," he said.

Asked whether the Nationalist Party would consider having discussions with Alternattiva Demokratika on fighting the next election on the same platform, Dr Fenech Adami said no discussions had taken place about the issue but he would not rule out anything.

The last general election was held on September 8, 1998, a mere 22 months after the MLP had been voted into office with a 7,000 vote majority.

The 1998 election was won by the Nationalist Party with a majority of 12,817 votes over Labour. The PN had polled a total of 124,866 votes, indicating a swing in favour of the PN ranging from 2.6 to 4.6 per cent on all districts.

According to the Constitution, the prime minister could have called an election as late as January 10 next year.

Dr Fenech Adami described Dr Sant's attitude to the EU referendum result as "immature and irresponsible".

"Dr Sant's actions have created the fear that the MLP is taking us back to a period in the 1980s that we would rather forget."

Dr Fenech Adami said Dr Sant's refusal to accept a clear referendum result was "absurd" and meant he was being "disloyal to the country".

"Ethics exist even in politics. We can all tell the difference between good and bad, between what is right and wrong. But there are no ethics in Dr Sant's way of conducting politics.

"Dr Sant spoke too soon and came out with the absurd theory that he had won," he said.

"The result was satisfactory with a very high turnout. It is one of the best turnouts in a referendum anywhere in the world. The difference between the yes and no votes was over 19,000 votes, which was the biggest majority in any election."

People had already voted for EU membership in the 1998 election and 51.8 per cent of the valid votes cast at that election voted for EU membership, he said.

At Saturday's referendum, 53.62 per cent, practically an extra two per cent, or 6,000 people, voted for EU membership. A comparison of the results of two polls showed that the MLP had lost 0.62 per cent of the votes cast, the prime minister noted.

Dr Fenech Adami pointed out that over 1,000 people had passed away since the publication of the electoral register on which the referendum was based - which went to prove how ridiculous it was of Dr Sant to claim that all the people who did not vote were in favour of his "partnership" option.