Nobody in Labour discouraged Alex Sciberras from running for party president, he told Times of Malta.

In an interview a few days before Labour delegates go to the polls, the lawyer and former Msida mayor dismissed rumours that the party leadership tried to dissuade him from contesting one of the party’s top roles.

He acknowledged some people within the party feared a contest might naturally cause divisions, “because everyone wants to win”, but insisted that if a contest is done right, it is only beneficial to the party.

“This is a race between friends – we’re not attacking each other but debating ideas. Norma [Saliba] and myself are genuinely friends and this is truly a race between two friends,” he said.

“We have different characters, styles, and ideas but both of us want the PL to move forward.”

Labour is holding internal elections this weekend to shake up its topmost officials in an effort to renew itself and remain appealing to a voter base which showed disgruntlement in June’s MEP election.

Several sources close to the PL said that, despite many people showing interest in throwing their names in the hat for the different roles, only one person ended up running in almost every role.

They say some people were discouraged from contesting to avoid causing internal frictions and unnecessary divisions at a time when the party needed to appear united as one front.

The role of party president is one of just two roles where there is a contest – between Sciberras and Saliba, the former TVM head of news who is now the CEO of the Maltese Language Centre.

The two hope to succeed former president Ramona Attard, who announced last month she would not be seeking re-election for this or any other role.

‘Nobody’s candidate’

Sciberras also dismissed rumours he was Joseph Muscat’s candidate and Saliba was Robert Abela’s pick.

“I’m nobody’s candidate. I was raised in the party and I’ve been active in it since 2003. I worked under Alfred Sant, Joseph Muscat and I work under Robert Abela. I only wave one flag – the PL flag,” he said, adding he works really well with Abela.

He defended Saliba’s PBS employment, saying there was nothing wrong with someone holding a role like that while also being a party official, as long as they do both jobs well.

“Is there anything wrong for a person with a public role to also have political views? Shouldn’t they also enjoy the right to party membership,” he asked.

Saliba is still a PBS employee, albeit seconded to the Centre for the Maltese Language. However, her formal affiliation with the Labour Party’s administration would seemingly preclude her from holding a role at the public broadcaster, with PBS ethics guidelines saying that “all PBS (news) staff should refrain from publicly associating themselves with a political party”.

The guidelines also instruct employees to refrain from endorsing political parties, participating in any campaign, express support for a political party or cause, or act in any way “that damages PBS’s reputation for strict neutrality in reporting on politics and government”.

Sciberras insisted, however, his opponent has a fundamental right to her political views. Pushed on the fact that being party president goes far beyond simply having a political view, he would not budge.

“This applies even to judges and magistrates, as long as they perform their duties well and impartially,” he said. “It’s time we recognise that people of integrity are also able to rise to the standards that are expected of them in their public role.”

Sciberras, who is the son of the late Judge Philip Sciberras, first became active in the Labour Party 20 years ago, in its youth wing and eventually served as Msida’s first Labour mayor. He also sat on the district council and held various positions within government in recent years.

‘PL needs to reach out’

He said voters still believe Labour is the best party to move the country forward but there are issues that must be addressed. People still trust the party but they expect a better version of it.

“They feel their quality of life has been impacted. The economy is growing and there is more work, yes, but that also means they must work more hours, get stuck in traffic, contend with construction and feel like they cannot open a window in their own home or go to a recreational public place that is not overcrowded,” he said.

“If we don’t accept that construction is annoying people, we would be fooling ourselves. The solution shouldn’t be to stop development, rather, to find balance between economic growth and quality of life and one must not come at the expense of the other.”

Another solution is to reignite vivid debates and conversations with delegates within the party, he believes. Policy and decision-making should be spurred by their involvement.

“Every governing party inevitably focuses most of its resources on running the country – it happened to the PN as well – which means it sometimes forgets to pay enough attention to the party and its structures,” he said.

“That’s why we must reignite discussions, because we need to be clear with ourselves where we want to go in the next five years.”

The party should not be closed off either, he added. It needs to better reach out to people and the media instead of closing itself behind the walls of a siege mentality.

“We shouldn’t be ashamed of ourselves. We made mistakes but we did many great things as well.”