The four political party leaders yesterday battled it out in a debate at the University of Malta, registering varying levels of success but the support seemed to swing mostly in favour of the PN.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s closing address was greeted by a standing ovation and chants, while Labour leader Alfred Sant registered quite good support too. Greens leader Harry Vassallo was lacklustre while AN leader Josie Muscat failed to connect with the students and was met with derision for most of his answers.

The format of the debate was that each speaker – Dr Gonzi, Dr Sant, Dr Muscat and Dr Vassallo were each given a number of questions which they answered one by one. They were all allocated a maximum of 10 minutes in which to answer all questions, although they took it in turn.

The majority of the support within the hall was for the PN and Dr Gonzi, although the MLP had a healthy contingent also. The Greens had a smattering of support, but most of them were also supporting Dr Gonzi. Apart from four or five people, AN was largely dismissed by the crowd.

Dr Gonzi’s first intervention was about health and the alleged Good Causes fraud.

The PN leader said he felt it was a good move to allocate tickets for the Valletta-Juventus match because it allowed free distribution of tickets to young children who practice football at nurseries. He also said that the fund contributes to many other entities, Dar tal-Providenza, for instance.

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