This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

Outsider Robert Abela is set to become Malta’s new prime minister after the downfall of previous leader Joseph Muscat over the investigation into the murder of an investigative journalist.

Abela, who is seen as representing continuity, was elected leader of the Labour party on Sunday, meaning he automatically takes the role of prime minister.

In the election run-up Abela did not criticise Muscat, who had announced in December he would quit following widespread anger over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from a probe into the 2017 car bombing murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Muscat, 45, was set to resign on Sunday.

Prior to the election result activist groups cast doubt on whether his successor would bring about real change in the country which they say has been taken over by “criminals”.

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Dubbed the “one woman WikiLeaks”, Caruana Galizia exposed corruption at the highest levels. She was killed by a car bomb on 16 October 2017 in an attack that made world headlines.

Less than an hour before her death she wrote on her blog: “There are crooks everywhere you look. The situation is desperate.”

It was expected that some 17,500 Labour voters would vote for the first mid-term prime minister in the party’s history.

Two candidates were vying to take over as Labour leader and prime minister: the deputy prime minister and health minister, Chris Fearne, a 56-year old surgeon, and 42-year-old lawyer Abela.

Fearne had the backing of most cabinet members but Abela had been closing the gap in the polls in the final week of the campaign, the Times of Malta said.

Neither referred to the Galizia killing in the run-up to the election. Both have insisted they represent continuity, highlighting their determination to keep the economy on its stellar trajectory.

“We have the reputation [in Malta] of being pirates. The reason is that a group of criminals have taken over our government,” Manuel Delia, a member of the activist group Repubblika, told AFP. “We need change.”

Martina Darmanin, a 24-year old academic, said she was fed up with hearing that she was from a “tax haven country”.

“As a member of the EU we want and we deserve better than this: good governance, rule of law,” she said.

Repubblika plans to deliver a manifesto to the new prime minister calling for a clean-up of politics and the economy as well as a revamp of the constitution to guarantee a genuine separation of powers.

Play Video 4:20 Why Malta is in crisis over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia – video explainer

In an emotional farewell address on Friday, Muscat said he was “sorry” about the killing, the investigation into which he has been accused of hampering.

“I paid the highest price for this case to be solved under my watch,” he said.

The opposition Nationalist party slammed Muscat’s “surreal” speech, pointing out that it was Caruana Galizia who had paid that price.

Muscat’s fall from power followed daily protests led by supporters of the Caruana Galizia family, who accuse him, among other things, of shielding his chief of staff and childhood friend Keith Schembri, who has been implicated in the murder.

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The journalist’s family had called for Muscat to step down immediately but support from his party and his own popularity – linked to Malta’s booming economy – bought him time until the party election.

Three men are on trial for allegedly detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia, while a fourth – a powerful businessman called Yorgen Fenech – was charged as an accomplice after being detained as he tried to leave the country on his yacht.

Fenech’s arrest in November sparked the resignation of the tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, who formerly served as energy minister, and Schembri.

The murder and probe, Malta Today wrote on Saturday, “cast an indelible stain on Muscat and his administration”.