The Labour Party has formally presented its 86 general election candidates today, with Dr Muscat insisting that the party was presenting the strongest candidature in both numbers and quality.

The presentation took place at the Bay Arena in St Julians, which had hosted the party’s extraordinary general conference the previous night. The conference served to unveil and publish the party’s election manifesto.

Dr Muscat pointed out that 48% of the candidates were contesting the general election for the first time: he is among them, having been co-opted to parliament in 2008. He said that this provided an important balance between continuity and innovation.

A total of 12 candidates – 17% of the total – are women, and Dr Muscat said that the party worked hard to increases its number of female candidates. Nevertheless, it lags behind the PN on this matter – 13 of the party’s 70 candidates are women.

Dr Muscat pointed out that some had previously been involved with the Nationalist Party and with Alternattiva Demokratika, but had since joined Labour because they felt that it was time for a change in direction.

Asked about how the party screened its candidates, Dr Muscat said that each prospective candidate was asked to present his criminal record and interviewed by a board. Candidates were questioned on their core principles, he said: homophobia, for instance, precluded people from contesting under the PL banner, regardless of their other capabilities, he said. In a follow-up question, he stressed that opposition to abortion was another core value candidates had to adhere to.

The Labour leader quipped that the candidates had a “Maltese” face, in a clear indirect reference to PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil’s assertion that candidate Deborah Schembri had the face of a Nationalist in a televised debate.

He said that the candidates were united to bring about a change in direction and national unity, stating that the time for tribal politics was over.

Inevitably, a number of questions focused on the manifesto the party had just published, and Dr Muscat revealed that the party would be presenting the economic model behind them today.

He contrasted Labour’s exercise with the PN’s costings, stating that it would not be a simple accounting exercise, but would delve into economic matters in more detail. Malta, he said, was not a small business, but an economic system.

A considerable number of manifesto proposals are somewhat vague: pledging to improve, strengthen or facilitate a project or initiative without going into details.

Asked to comment on this, Dr Muscat said that this is addressed by another proposal. Ministers, he said, would be publishing their targets online, providing people with the opportunity to compare what should have been done with what was actually done.

The Labour leader insisted that the manifesto was not a simple shopping list, and that the party drew a line to ensure that its proposals were affordable, even though it may have wished to do more.

Dr Muscat also emphasised that deputy leader Louis Grech would be politically responsible for the implementation of the manifesto, stating that this was a strong message that the party meant business. He clarified, however, that Mr Grech would also have a ministerial portfolio of his own, apart from serving as deputy prime minister.

He added that Labour felt that a prime minister should have a more strategic role, in contrast with the present situation. He said that luckily, the party had a lot of people to choose from.

A number of questions also focused on former deputy leader Anglu Farrugia, who broke his media silence last Sunday.

Dr Muscat insisted that Dr Farrugia still had a contribution to give to Labour and to the country, and that he still held him in the highest esteem. He added that he hoped to have the opportunity to work with Dr Farrugia again.