Far-right Moviment Patrijotti Maltin contesting nationwide

The far-right Moviment Patrijotti Maltin will field candidates in all districts, with up to three candidates in one single district, party leader Henry Battistino said.

It will be the first showing for the anti-immigration MPM, which will field 13 candidates, each with double constituencies.

So far, the far-right party has not figured in MaltaToday polls, never registering far beyond the 1% mark of voting intentions. Immigration is also among the least of national concerns.

Battistino, whose ‘movement’ started out collecting signatures for a petition “against integration” and then led protests against integration policies for foreigners, told this newspaper he was very annoyed at the media blackout against his party. “I cannot understand why,” he said, while answering that he was not worried about his party’s lacklustre show in the polls.

“We know we have support, just wait until we announce our candidates’ list,” Battistino said, who fashions his party as a defender of an underclass that is at the fringe of the two parties’ demographics. At one point he said Marlene Farrugia, the former Labour MP, had renounced on her independence by taking her PD on the PN ballot.

“We don’t have much funds, but enough of a budget to be noisy,” he said.