A new political party will be launched on Saturday in the ballroom of the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana, aiming “to rekindle in our people a love and a respect for our flag as the symbol of our identity, our beliefs, our culture and our traditions,” Dr Josie Muscat said on behalf of the founding members.

Dr Muscat is a former Nationalist Party MP. His uncle, Dr John Muscat, was also a long-standing MP for the PN, as were the latter’s two sons, Pierre, who died young, and his brother Claude.

Dr Muscat invited to the 9.30am launch “all those who believe that sovereignty, seriousness and justice should once again provide the foundations for political representation”.

Malta, he added, was passing through a period of political, moral, economic, social and cultural turbulence. “It is now apparent that the political system in place for these last 40 years has failed to yield the expected results. The island cannot keep on being the only one member of the EU to be frightened into having only two parties in parliament to represent the wide range of opinion in the country.”

Full of promises and high brow intentions, as most politicians and budding politicians are, he said the party “intends to give a voice to the many who by word or in print have indicated their desire for a party that will take Malta forward without throwing out the best of our inherited traditions, a party that will not tolerate any form of corruption and that will treat everybody as equal in front of the law.”

This party, he added, intends to be the key that will free our people from political bondage and give them the opportunity to develop, to innovate, in a society no longer riven by artificially created political divisions.

“This party aims to build a society that shall strive to create opportunities and choices at every level, thus allowing each and every citizen to walk away from the constraints of necessity, poverty and need. A society that shall celebrate work, respect authority and morality and reward meritocracy.

“This party will look towards a future inspired by those traditions and values that have always fortified the people of Malta and Gozo to overcome every challenge they have had to face; where society is built on an equilibrium between past and present, between tradition and innovation, between rights and responsibilities, between the satisfaction of individual needs and the promotion of the common good.”