Gonzi highlights 'vast differences' between parties

Hundreds of people yesterday packed the Nationalist Party's headquarters for a mass rally that kicked off the party's electoral campaign.

It was the first of daily activities that the party is planning to organise throughout the campaign.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi walked into the hall at the party's new headquarters amid resounding applause and cheering.

He told the gathered supporters that the next five weeks would be intense. It was imperative, he said, to explain to the people what had been achieved over the past five years and his party's objectives for the country, including the 2015 vision to turn Malta into a centre of excellence in a number of sectors.

"Compare what we are telling you with what others are saying," he said.

Banners hanging in the hall carried the party's slogan - Yes, together everything is possible - accompanied by the words "Gonzi PN" in a reaffirmation that Dr Gonzi is the face of his party's campaign. The address of a new website - http://lawrencegonzi.info - was also displayed in the hall.

In a short speech, Dr Gonzi said the date of March 8 should be a good reminder of the vast difference between the policies of his party and those of the Labour Party.

He said the date was not only the fifth anniversary of when the Maltese people voted in favour of EU accession but - referring to the MLP's declaration that its option for partnership had won the referendum - it also marked the date when the democratic process was betrayed.

When he became Prime Minister almost four years ago he had called on the people to judge him by his actions. Now he was able to go back and show them what the government had done "for us, for our children and for our country," he said in a reference to the PN's slogan for the EU referendum and 2003 election.

Dr Gonzi asked people to compare the country today to the state it was in when then Prime Minister Alfred Sant had called an early general election in 1998. In five weeks' time, the people needed to decide in whose hands they wanted to leave the country for the coming five years.

"The people need to decide with the same maturity that they have always shown. But they also need to make their comparisons."

He continued that what "someone else" was proposing would be "disastrous" for the country.

The Prime Minister listed a number of achievements attained in the past years - including EU accession, the closure of Mag?tab, higher employment rates and a drop in the number of people registering for work, a better quality of life for pensioners, children's allowance for everyone and a new home for the elderly in Mellie?a to be opened soon.

"There were those who tried to discourage us, but we always remained strong in the belief that together everything is possible."

However, he warned, nothing should be taken for granted, adding that this legislature had been successful because it had taken this stance.

Dr Gonzi was introduced to the crowd, which spilled outside the headquarters, by PN secretary general Joe Saliba, who described the Prime Minister as a pair of steady hands.

"This is the moment," he said, before appealing to people to attend the daily activities which his party will be organising. "We need to convince and explain to people that the PN is the best choice for the country."

He said everyone needed to be targeted. "Everyone needs to work to continue convincing people that the PN can offer the steady hands of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi."

Mr Saliba said there have been challenges in the past, which had been overcome. He called on people to be calm and not allow anyone to provoke them. "Order during activities is imperative - it shows that we are able to convince people using words and energy."