The Labour Party has so far shunned questions on whether it wants Joseph Muscat back as an electoral candidate.

On Saturday, Times of Malta contacted the Labour deputy leader for party affairs, Daniel Micallef following the release of the first part of an interview with former prime minister Muscat.

In the interview, Muscat refused to rule out a return to politics, saying, “if they keep annoying me, I do not exclude it”.

Times of Malta asked Micallef if the party wants Muscat back as a election candidate and why the interview was not reported on any of the Labour Party’s media platforms.

During the interview, Muscat made it clear that he was not considering running in the upcoming general election.

You don’t change the state by changing some people or a law. The state was, is and will be. It is the government that can change

But asked if he was considering contesting the one after that, he replied: “Well, I’m giving you something for people to think about.

“Because people say I’m going to contest, so I figured I’d say I don’t exclude it.”

Muscat also took exception to claims by some key Labour Party figures that the Maltese state has “changed” since he was forced out of office.

In his address to parliament following the publication of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder inquiry last month, Prime Minister Robert Abela declared that “the Maltese state has changed completely since January 2020”.

“You don’t change the state by changing some people or a law. The state was, is and will be. It is the government that can change,” Muscat said in the interview.

The Labour deputy leader was asked about the party’s view on this, seeing it contradicts its leader’s statement that the state is changing.

However, the questions have so far remained unanswered.