MaltaToday Survey | Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder: A political connection

A vociferous segment of society believes that the mastermind behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder may have political connections.

These people reflect the Caruana Galizia family’s belief that the slain journalist’s work to uncover corruption at the highest level of politics was the reason for her assassination.

It appears they are not alone to believe politics had to do with the journalist’s murder.

A MaltaToday survey found that a relative majority of 41.2% believe that the person who ordered the journalist’s killing has a political connection.

The survey did not ask people
to define ‘political connection’, which means they were allowed to understand it as they deemed fit.

An equally strong segment (38.5%) are unsure as to whether the person who commissioned the bombing has a political connection.

Only 19%, believe there is no political connection to the execution.

When the results are broken down by political party allegiance, it shows that voters who voted for the Nationalist Party in 2017 are more convinced of the political link than people who voted for the Labour Party.

In fact, 72.6% of PN 2017 voters believe the person behind Caruana Galizia’s killing has a political connection. Only 5.3% of PN voters believe this is not the case, while 21.3% are uncertain.

On the flipside, PL voters are less uniform in their beliefs. Most of these voters (47.8%) are uncertain about the political connection, followed by 32.7% who believe this is not the case. However, 18.1% of 2017 PL voters agree that the person who ordered Caruana Galizia’s murder has a political connection.

The results for PN voters are hardly surprising because they tally with the narrative set out by the party’s previous leadership linking the government to corruption to the murder.

On the PL side, it appears that voters have shunned the voices trying to link the murder with politics, including some within their own party who have trumped up the fact that before she was killed, Caruana Galizia’s main target was PN leader Adrian Delia. These voters have largely opted for a cautious approach instead.

The Caruana Galizia murder investigation has so far led to three men being charged with the bombing. However, there is no suggestion yet of what the motive may have been and who could have commissioned the crime.

The Daphne Project

The first story released by the Daphne Project had reported anonymous eye witnesses who saw Economy Minister Chris Cardona drinking in the same bar as one of the accused, before and after the murder.

Cardona denied meeting the accused but acknowledged that he sometimes drank at the Siġġiewi bar identified by the international consortium of journalists. The bar is a popular jaunt. He also denied any connection with the murder.

In a subsequent story, the journalists noted that no politicians were interrogated by the police throughout the investigation. The survey would have captured people’s reactions to both of these stories.

Cardona had told the journalists that he had been summoned by the inquiring magistrate to testify on the day of the murder but did not get the chance to be interviewed because the Caruana Galizia family had asked for a change in magistrate. The newly-appointed magistrate, who enjoyed the family’s trust, did not follow up on his predecessor and no politicians were summoned to testify.

However, after the bar story was released by the Daphne Project, Cardona went of his own volition to the police and gave a deposition.

Methodology

The MaltaToday survey was carried out between Monday 23 April and Friday 27 April, 2018.  Stratified random samplings defined by age, gender and region discriminants were used to replicate the fidelity of the population. There were 553 respondents who chose to take part in the survey. The margin of error for a confidence interval of 95% is estimated at 4.2%.

Regions based on NSO classification

• Southern Harbour: Valletta, Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Zabbar, Fgura, Floriana, Kalkara, Luqa, Marsa, Paola, St Lucija, Tarxien, Xghajra.
• Northern Harbour: Qormi, Birkirkara, Gzira, Hamrun, Msida, Pembroke, Pieta, St Julians, San Gwann, St Venera, Sliema, Swieqi, Ta’ Xbiex.
• South Eastern: Zejtun, Birzebbuga, Gudja, Ghaxaq, Kirkop, Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi, Zurrieq.
• Western: Mdina, Zebbug, Siggiewi, Attard, Balzan, Dingli, Iklin, Lija, Rabat, Mtarfa.
• Northern: Gharghur, Mellieha, Mgarr, Mosta, Naxxar, St Paul’s Bay.
• Gozo: Gozo and Comino