PN leader Bernard Grech questioned on Wednesday why the government has resorted to “trying to buy votes” when the trust rating gaps between him and Prime Minister Robert Abela are so much in Abela’s favour.

Grech was asked whether he feared that the government-issued cheques, which arrived in people’s mailboxes in the past days, would change people’s opinion on who to vote – to which he said that he has faith in the Maltese and Gozitan people and their intelligence.

“If the trust ratings are so much in Abela’s favour, why does he keep trying to buy people’s votes?,” Grech queried.

“Are you not serene?  Are you realising that even Labourites are fed up with you?,” he added, directly addressing Abela.

Moving on, Grech accused Abela of “arranging” for a permit to be issued for the sanctioning of a villa which he purchased some days later, while he was a legal consultant for the PA, for a price which Grech said was far below its market value.

“Then he rented it out to Russian oligarchs… no wonder he didn’t want to ban the sale of passports to Russians… so he can keep on feasting,” Grech added.

The PN leader said that he has nothing to hide, which is why he had been open to interviews from the independent media – unlike Robert Abela.

Grech also said that because the Nationalist Party’s politics is tied to respecting people, he feels that hunters are more important than the birds which they shoot.

Grech’s answer came when he was asked during a party activity whether the party’s stance in favour of more animal rights and more enforcement against animal cruelty is a contradiction while it is also in favour of hunting and trapping.

“You can see it as a contradiction but I do not,” Grech said.

“I understand people and our politics is based around people: who am I to try and take away the hobby of someone raised in that hobby? You can agree or disagree, but you have to respect the fact that hunters and trappers have a hobby,” he said.  

“For me that person is more important than the bird which may suffer as a result,” he said.

He however added that it is important that any hunting done is done in a legal manner and that hungers understand that while they have rights, they also have the obligation to follow the rules.