Corruption, together with the Panama Scandal, is the issue of greatest concern for 37% of total respondents of the The Malta Independent's iSurvey, while a whopping 50% of respondents aged between 18 and 24 also believe so.
Respondents were asked: What issue is of greatest concern to you right now? No answers were provided to respondents, instead they had to come up with an issue themselves, without any prompting. Interviews with respondents were carried out between 25 April and 3 May in this seventh edition of iSurvey.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called a snap election bang in the middle of the interviews being conducted, in the wake of mounting allegations made against him and his family. Journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia alleged that his wife, Michelle Muscat, is the true owner of Egrant Inc, the third company named in the Panama Papers scandal alongside those of minister without portfolio Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri.
It was alleged that through Pilatus Bank in Ta Xbiex, Mrs Muscat received US$1.017 million from one of the daughters of the Azerbaijani president, Leyla Aliyeva. The Muscats deny the claims.
Second to top the list were 'nothing, there are no concerns', racking up 23.2% of mentions by respondents, followed by 'lies' at 10.7% and 'unstable political situation' registering 10.1% of mentions by respondents.
Issues of greatest concern during the November 2016 edition of the iSurvey registered 'nothing, there are no concerns' as number one, with 20.9% of mentions. While the proportion of respondents who believe so has gone up by 2.3 percentage points, to 23.2%, corruption/ the Panama scandal still managed to claw its way back to the top position. It even surpassed the percentage of mentions when compared with April 2016, shortly after The Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia first broke the story.
Corruption, lies and political instability make up 57.8% 'don't knows' at lowest ever
Corruption/ the Panama Papers scandal, lies and political instability together make up 57.8% of mentions by the total number of respondents. One cannot deny that the three categories are intrinsically linked, whether you sit on the Nationalist Party (PN) or the Labour Party (PL) divide.
Between the serious allegations surrounding the Prime Minister and Egrant Inc, together with the PN's debacle with Silvio Debono's db Group and the former reportedly issuing false invoices to a subsidiary group of the latter in order to circumvent the party financing law regulating donations, corruption and lies could be linked with both.
When breaking down the respondents into how respondents voted in the 2013 general election, 57.2% of those who voted PN listed corruption as their top concern. Conversely, the highest proportion of mentions by PL voters was 'nothing, there are no concerns' at 32.7%, with corruption coming second at 18.9%.
When breaking down responses based on how people would vote should an election be held today, PL voters said there are no concerns at 37.2%, racking up the highest proportion of mentions. Those who said they would be voting PN, expectedly listed corruption as the top concern at 67.8%.
It must be said, however, that issues of greatest concern on the minds of the electorate tend to change week to week depending on headlines and current affairs. This is further underscored by the November 2016 iSurvey results which registered 'nothing, there are no concerns' at the top spot. In just five months, between November and April, corruption went from 10.3% to 37%.
While the survey was being carried out, a Magisterial inquiry was appointed to investigate the claims about Egrant Inc and the Prime Minister had denied the claims and filed for libel against Mrs Caruana Galizia. PN loyals were infuriated by the allegations while PL supporters were equally infuriated by the 'lies' being levelled against their party leader.
This edition of the iSurvey also registered the least amount of 'don't knows', showing the highest levels of decisiveness than has been registered in almost two years. This time round, only 1.8% said 'don't know', while in November 2016 the level was 10.5% and 18% in April 2016.
The April 2017 iSurvey - the seventh of its kind - was commissioned to Business Leaders Malta on behalf of The Malta Independent. A total of 600 respondents were used, representative of age, gender and spread of localities. With such a sample size, the margin of error is +/- 4%. More info on the iSurvey will be disclosed throughout the week.