CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Malta Names New Prime Minister After Murder of Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

The investigation into the 2017 car bombing of muckraker Daphne Caruana Galizia led to the resignation of the country’s prime minister Joseph Muscat.

Robert Abela has been named the new prime minister of Malta after the resignation of Joseph Muscat over the handling of the investigation into journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s 2017 murder. Abela was elected by Malta’s Labor Party on Sunday and will automatically step in to replace Muscat, who is expected to officially step down on Sunday. He promised to resign in December as soon as a new leader was elected by his party. Muscat has been accused of protecting friends and allies who have been investigated in connection with the journalist’s murder. Caruana Galizia, who died when her rental car blew up outside her home in October 2017 after she accused several of the country’s leaders, including Muscat, of widespread corruption. Less than an hour before she died, she wrote on her popular blog, “There are crooks everywhere you look. The situation is desperate.”