[WATCH] Saviour Balzan: Spring hunting retained thanks to Muscat

Saviour Balzan's videoblog

Spring hunting has been retained thanks to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, MediaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan said.

“When Muscat said that he was voting Yes in the referendum, he was basically telling Labourites to vote like him,” Balzan said. “His follow-up that everyone has the liberty to vote as they want was nothing but theatrics.”

On the other hand, he added that around 70% of Nationalists had already made up their minds to vote No from the start and hadn't even taken  Opposition leader Simon Busuttil’s declared Yes vote into consideration.

“Labourites are more loyal than Nationalists with regards to what their leader says,” Balzan said. “Muscat cannot hide from the fact that, had he not spoken in favour of the Yes vote, the result would have been different. The Yes victory is thanks to Muscat and as such he must shoulder a certain degree of responsibility for it.”  

He dismissed Muscat’s claims in the referendum aftermath that the result would have been different had he campaigned in favour of a Yes vote.

“Around 20% of Labourites had already decided to vote No and would have done so regardless of how heavily Muscat campaigned for a Yes vote.," Balzan said.