Housing Minister Roderick Galdes said that people are now living in the Siggiewi housing estate as he criticised the PN's "vindictive" move to take the matter to court, and noted that the Prime Minister had already denied reports that he had been given a dressing down.
Questioned by The Malta Independent, Galdes said that Prime Minister Robert Abela had already denied reports that he singled him out for criticism over last weekend's European Parliament election results.
Earlier this week, MaltaToday reported how Abela bashed Galdes, the Vitals inquiry, and the "ineffectual party" administration for the significant decrease in the voting margin between them and the PN. The voting gap between Malta's two major parties hit an all-time low for European elections, with the PL winning the majority of votes by just 8,400 votes.
In May, the PN filed 99 cases in court, accusing the Labour Party of registering nearly 99 voters as residents at a housing complex in Siġġiewi, which was still in shell form. The PN stated that the registered residents did not live in this government estate, and the courts agreed and had their registration rescinded.
MaltaToday reported that Galdes received criticism for this very reason during a Labour Party executive and parliamentary group meeting on Monday.
Asked for a comment, Galdes said that he would not discuss these types of meetings as they are confidential. However, he noted that Abela has denied the reports.
The Minister further stated that over the last few years he has led major initiatives under his ministry such as the work on "almost 25 new housing estate sites", the first-time buyers' scheme, and the equity sharing scheme.
Galdes also said that these 99 families could not possibly have affected the European elections, but if they were to have an effect it would be on the local council elections if anything, referring to numerical accounts.
However, it is important to note that in 2019, Labour won a majority in the Siġġiewi local council for the first time since local elections started, with a mere 70-vote advantage.
The Minister continued saying that these families are now settling into their new apartments and already have water and electricity facilities in place, contrary to what was reported.
Commenting on these cases, he said that the PN made this move for the first time in a very long time and noted that the PL had long stopped such actions, which he described as a very "vindictive" move.
He also affirmed that he has no problems with authorities further investigating the matter.