Many people were turned off by Labour's partisan tone during last month's election campaign, party CEO Randolph De Battista said on Saturday. 

Speaking during Andrew Azzopardi's radio show, De Battista pinpointed the "partisan" discourse about the judiciary that dominated the campaign. 

Prime Minister Robert Abela hit out against a magistrate who recommended criminal charges against ex-prime minister Joseph Muscat and a raft of other government officials. 

Abela claimed the charges linked to the hospitals deal were timed to cause maximum damage to Labour during the election campaign. 

De Battista distanced himself from this line of attack on Saturday, saying it probably cost more votes than it won. 

The Labour CEO said that while the party should never forget the progress made under various leaders, Muscat should be allowed to defend himself and the party should be allowed to move forward. 

De Battista said many people want Labour to adopt a more moderate tone that represents the entire population

"The election showed us people want us to work differently. I have been sending this message across internally for years now." 

De Battista said there is a "small but noisy" group within Labour that is keen on maintaining the status quo. 

The Labour CEO has in recent weeks been in the crosshairs of Neville Gafa, a former government official closely linked with Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri. 

De Battista brushed off the attacks, saying it shows he is doing his job if a "mafioso" or a "fascist" hits out at him. 

The Labour CEO insinuated in a cryptic Facebook post on Friday that he had kicked Gafa out of Labour in 2018 on Muscat's instructions, after Gafa faced "very serious allegations." 

Gafa was employed by OPM during that same period. 

De Battista refused to be drawn into further detail about the post during the interview with Azzopardi. 

He denied claims peddled by Gafa that his partner Cyrus Engerer tried to organised a block vote against Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba within the European Parliament. 

De Battista said attacks like the ones peddled by Gafa were intended to apply pressure on people within Labour who are advocating for a cleaner way of doing politics. 

Questioned about his relationship with the prime minister, De Battista said he speaks regularly with Abela. 

Abela said this month that he has "differences of opinion" with De Battista. 

The Labour CEO however downplayed this, saying on Saturday that it is important to have a diversity of opinions within the party, rather than everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.

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