Muscat eyeing Gozo as PN positions Simon Busuttil to take on PL leader – maltatoday.com.mt.
It’s a strange concept indeed for those of us used to the (near) sanctity of geographic representation to understand the way candidates are chosen in other countries.
Now from Malta Today, the suggestion that Muscat, the Labour leader, might run in the 13th district, Gozo – in effect to bravely declare the PL’s intention to win a 3rd seat in Gozo, which hasn’t happened since the 1950s.
Where it gets odd for an observer from away is that, first, leading candidates always run in several districts (they can only win in one, obviously, and in the other(s) their votes are counted back); second, Muscat is not Gozitan.
I doubt Gozitans have a huge issue with this – as Canada’s leading and completely self-appointed honorary Gozitan, it’s fine by me – but one does have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to just run in one place, maybe where you live, and maybe give a chance to someone else to get elected on his or her merits, not simply because transfers flowed from the party leader in a district or two.
Gozo is a (dare I say it?) distinct society… my question is whether either Muscat or the PN’s great white hope, Busuttil, can effectively represent Gozo for the Gozitans, if you will.
