Malta's PM to step down amid Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation
Source: The Guardian
Joseph Muscat has announced he plans to step down as Maltas prime minister, saying on state TV he would ask his ruling Labour party to start a process to choose a new leader on 12 January next year.
He made the announcement on Sunday night after calls for his resignation had grown over the 2017 car bomb killing of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. On Saturday, a prominent businessman with alleged ties to government ministers and senior officials was charged over the case.
I will write to the president of the Labour party so that the process for a new leader is set for 12th January 2020. On that day I will resign as leader of the Labour party. In the days after I will resign as prime minister, Muscat said. Our country thus will start a short process of approximately a month for the Labour party to choose a new leader and a new prime minister.
Thousands of people took part in an anti-government march earlier on Sunday in Valetta, the capital of the tiny Mediterranean archipelago nation, marching from parliament to the central court house in an event organised by the activist group Repubblika, among others, and led by members of the Caruana Galizia family.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/01/pressure-grows-on-maltas-pm-to-quit-over-murdered-journalist-daphne-caruana-galizia