A sizeable majority agree that Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia had to step down following the Gżira shooting involving his driver, but people who voted for the Labour Party in last year’s general election are somewhat split about the issue.

In fact, the December edition of the iSurvey, carried out by Business Leaders Malta on behalf of The Malta Independent, shows that 61.3% agree that Dr Mallia had to step down, compared to just 25.3% who disagreed and 13.3% who were unsure.

As expected, Nationalist Party voters were more likely to agree with Dr Mallia’s removal: only 2.9% disagreed that he should have stepped down, compared to 83.8% who are happy to see the back of the former minister.

Even Labour voters were more likely to agree than disagree: but the margin involved is much slimmer. In total, 48.5% of those who voted for the Labour Party in last year’s general election agreed with the minister’s removal, but 40.3% disagreed.

Curiously, men were considerably more likely to believe that Dr Mallia should have gone: 67.1% agreed, compared to just 55.6% of the women surveyed.

And while a majority in all age groups agreed with the minister’s removal, the likelihood of doing so decreased with age. While 74.1% of those aged 18-24 believed that Dr Mallia should go, only 54.5% of those aged 45-59 and 53.8% of those aged 60 and up believed the same.

Previous editions of the iSurvey, carried out in March and May, had confirmed that Dr Mallia was one of the most controversial members of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s cabinet.

In the March survey, carried out before an expected cabinet reshuffle which followed the decision to nominate Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca for the presidency, nearly a fifth of respondents – 19.7% – said that Dr Muscat should remove him from the cabinet. Former health minister Godfrey Farrugia, who actually did lose his job in the reshuffle which took place later that month, was in second place with 15.7%.

With no further reshuffle expected in May, respondents were asked who, they thought, should not be forming part of Cabinet. Yet again, Dr Mallia was in top place, as he was mentioned by 14.7% of respondents: Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi was a distant second with 6.7%.

Further findings of the December edition of the ISurvey will be published in tomorrow’s edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.