Voters want change of faces | Kristy Debono
Nationalist candidate Kristy Debono says that voters want change in the coming election, but must be careful to combine new faces with experienced veterans.
In an interview with weekly newspaper Illum, out on Sunday, fresh-faced Nationalist 9th district candidate Kristy Debono says that the electorate wants change.
She however warns that new faces alone will not be however able to lead the country effectively. She urges the electorate to temper their desire for change by seeking to combine fresh faces with experienced veterans.
Debono also discusses the first week of the election campaign. She says that the campaign "excitement" is yet to come, as the Nationalist Party is planning to unveil its electoral programme in the third week of the campaign.
Debono also dismisses the Labour Party's proposals on energy as "unimpressive" reiterating much of the Nationalist Party's criticism regarding the proposals.
She insists that question remain regarding Labour's costings, that Labour's proposal to have a ten-year binding agreement with a private company is not realistic, and that the PL's plan will lead to more expensive tariffs.
Debono also admits that the fact that her husband, PN Assistant General Secretary Jean Pierre Debono, withdrew his candidature after the Nationalist Party called on him to not contest given that his services were required within the party administrative structures, influenced her decision to contest or not.
She however insists that she is not simply filling the gap left by her husband, as Jean Pierre was intending to contest in the 7th district, while she is contesting in the 9th.
Debono also speaks to Illum about the way that party media work, and discusses whether party-owned media are help or hindrance to how politics are done and the value of democracy in Malta.
She insists that party-owned media adds to the amount of information available to viewers, enabling them to view whatever station they want and draw they own conclusions.
While agreeing that party-owned media exist to communicate their respective parties' agendas and propaganda, Debono insists that party-owned media are not detrimental to democracy.
She insists that once the media industry is liberalised and various media are free to transmit their messages however they deem fit, then democracy is safe.
She also fields questions about her own role in the Nationalist party-owned media, NET TV.
Read the full interview, out in the Sunday issue of Illum.