[WATCH] President launches second state of the nation survey

Findings from a second survey to grasp where people stand on numerous issues such as politics, religion and family life will be discussed in a national conference in June.

President George Vella launched the survey, which has been dubbed an exercise to determine the state of the nation. Vincent Marmarà statistician and communications consultant Lou Bondi will be carrying out the survey in partnership with the Office of the President.

The conference will be held on the 9th June.

"We need to always keep in mind the context this survey is being held in. In the local context, we have just been through an election campaign, for instance. Will politics continue to mean partisan politics or will we move forwards?” the President asked.

The president said that a lot had been learnt from last year’s survey and he intended to continue building on that progress. “The themes and subjects put to the people will be practically the same, however, the debate will not be tied just to the findings. These will open up the discussion which will go beyond simply analysing the survey results,” Vella said.

When asked whether questions on abortion and euthanasia would feature in the survey, the President said there weren’t any questions on those subject matters. However, during the conference, Vella said the debate on these issues will not be impeded.

Abortion has found its way on the national agenda with activists campaigning for a change in Malta’s draconian law that makes abortion illegal in all circumstances.

Euthanasia has found itself in the Labour Party manifesto, which promised a national debate on the issue.