Bernard Grech dismisses poor polling results

Opposition leader Bernard Grech has dismissed the poor polling results of the Nationalist Party, after a MaltaToday survey found that support for the PN plummeted four points in just one month.

“True, the surveys don’t indicate that we are progressing forward – but there are 80,000 people who are not speaking out in these surveys. They are not regularly quizzed, but they will have their say on election day,” Grech said during a political activity on Sunday.

He recalled a message he received from someone working in the financial sector, who vowed to vote PN in the coming election.

“She told me that no matter what the surveys say, her and her friends, who all voted Labour in the 2013 and 2017 elections, will be voting PN this time round.”

The MaltaToday survey found a 16-point gap in support ratings for the PL and PN. Support for the PN decreased by four points, while the Labour Party support saw a minimal decrease of less than a percentage point.

Given this, the vote margin stands upward of 50,000 votes in favour of the PL.

Meanwhile, trust ratings for Bernard Grech similarly plummeted by four points. This is his second worst result since becoming Nationalist Party leader in 2020.  

Grech briefly touched on Malta’s blockchain policy, and recalled a recent conversation with someone who had studied blockchain at Masters level.

According to Grech, this person decided to follow through with the Masters course after government began promoting the idea of ‘blockchain island’.

“When I finished my course, the blockchain dream disappeared,” Grech quoted.

“Once people begin to see how government operates, that promises like ‘blockchain island’ have resulted in nothing, they quickly realise that Labour is a party full of smoke and mirrors,” Grech said.

He added that the PN is keen on taking another look at sectors like cryptocurrency, but will only do so after studying and planning them carefully.

Grech wants police to investigate Konrad Mizzi

During the same event, Grech questioned whether something is holding the police commissioner back from investigating Konrad Mizzi following revelations that he shared confidential government information with business magnate Yorgen Fenech.

“What are you waiting for to investigate Konrad Mizzi and bring him to court? What are you waiting for now that it is clear he broke the law? Who is pulling the strings?” he asked.

Grech was referring to a report published by the Times of Malta indicating that Mizzi, a former energy minister, had leaked confidential information on government projects to Fenech, who now stands accused of masterminding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Last Wednesday, Mizzi was summoned to testify before the parliamentary public accounts committee over the Auditor General’s report into the Electrogas plant.

However, Mizzi refused to appear before the committee.

Mizzi was implicated in the Panama Papers scandal and sacked from the Labour Party in 2020 following the Montenegro scandal linking an Enemalta investment to one of Fenech’s companies. He was the brains behind the Delimara Electrogas plant project.