News • February 15 2004

Survey underlines contenders strength and weaknesses
Lawrence Gonzi surprisingly tops decisiveness but John Dalli better suited to stand up to Alfred Sant

John Dalli who until a few weeks ago was written off as a serious contender to the leadership is edging closer to Lawrence Gonzi
According to a survey carried out by MaltaToday’s sister newspaper The Malta Financial and Business Times, PN councillors believe Lawrence Gonzi is more decisive than John Dalli by 7%.
The Finance Minister, however, comes on tops as the person best suited to face up to the prospective prime minister’s political nemesis, Alfred Sant by 10%.
A telephone survey commissioned by The Malta Financial and Business Times among a randomly selected sample of 75 identified PN grass roots activists shows that 48 per cent of activists believe Gonzi has the ability to take difficult decisions as opposed to Dalli’s 41.3 per cent. Louis Galea comes a distant third with 10.7 per cent.
Gonzi also enjoys the upper hand on Dalli on the issue of job creation. Responding to the question, ‘From the three contenders who do you think is more capable of creating jobs?’, 45.3 per cent of activists identified Gonzi as the more capable while Dalli came a close second with 41.3 per cent.
However, when quizzed on who is capable of managing the economy John Dalli forges ahead with 66.7 per cent of activists putting their faith in the finance minister as opposed to Gonzi’s 21.3 per cent.
But Lawrence Gonzi is considered to be the more capable to sustain the health and pensions systems in a sustainable way by a whopping 74.7 per cent of party activists. John Dalli and Louis Galea trail with 16 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively.
Dalli is considered to be the more capable in taking on Alfred Sant with 46.7 per cent of activists putting their faith in him. In this respect the survey shows that Gonzi enjoys the trust of 36 per cent of grass roots activists while Louis Galea 17.3 per cent.
The survey provides a mixed picture of the candidates’ relative strengths and weaknesses and also springs some surprises. Over the next two weeks of campaigning fluctuations are expected to depend on the one-on-one contact the candidates are having with councillors and activists.
However, a crucial aspect that emerges is Louis Galea’s level of support. The survey results consistently place Galea in third place and in a final run off between Gonzi and Dalli his share of the vote may prove to be the determining factor.