Labour MP Justyne Caruana clarified her position with regard to the Constitutional amendment on electoral boundaries yesterday, saying it was not true that she had refused to state her views on the matter.

Speaking during the adjournment yesterday evening, Ms Caruana said she always followed the Labour Party’s line of reasoning: that Gozo should be one district, yet also providing guarantees that anomalies would not arise when the votes were counted.

She hit out at the Nationalist Party’s media for being unfair and for heavily editing comments she gave to their journalists to make it seem that she was refusing to comment or take a stand on the issue.

She also lambasted a female reporter from NET TV who pestered and harassed her for a comment. Ms Caruana said the TV station then went so far as to say that she had attacked the journalist.

Ms Caruana quoted three instances when she gave a comment to the press and clearly stated her position.

She said she would not be giving the Nationalist media any comments in future because they were more interested in twisting her words to the extent that they did not make sense.

She insisted that she would not be used by any journalist trying to get a scoop and would not tolerate rude journalists who did not follow journalistic ethics when doing their job.

Ms Caruana said she respected the media and always cooperated with the press.

With regard to the proposed amendment, Ms Caruana said the Labour Party agreed with the bill but insisted that the amendment must not lead to anomalies in the future.

She said the government appeared to have a hidden agenda and those who were against the Labour Party’s proposals were simply concerned that they would lose voters.

Labour Whip Joe Mizzi reaffirmed the party’s position and claimed that the government was not interested in Gozo but simply wanted to be able to change the electoral districts to suit its needs.

He said the MLP agreed that Gozo should be a single district; however, the votes had to reflect the number of seats.

“If they want one district, then they should vote in favour of Labour’s amendment that guarantees that votes reflect the number of seats in Malta and Gozo,” Mr Mizzi said. “There is nothing fairer than that,” he added.

Mr Mizzi also lashed out at the PN government, accusing it of being a threat to democracy and to the country’s institutions.