Environment Minister George Pullicino emerges as the biggest dipper in MaltaToday’s third “Rate the Minister” survey.

Pullicino’s popularity slipped by seven per cent in the past nine months and by an astounding 17 per cent since September 2005.

Bruised by controversies on building boundaries and hunting, George Pullicino has seen his approval rating slip from a satisfactory 48 per cent in September 2005 to 37.5 per cent in July 2006, and finally to an abysmal 30.6 per cent in the latest survey.

The Environment Minister ended up paying the highest price for cabinet decisions on contentious issues such as hunting and development. As the Minister responsible for MEPA, Pullicino has also borne the brunt of a number of planning decisions which have affected pockets and angered residents.

Lately, Pullicino has been caught in a Catch 22 situation: a target of abuse during hunting protests, while facing criticism from environmentalists for conceding too much to the hunting lobby. The minister also has to deal with infringements procedures from the European Commission, not just on hunting but also on the extension of ODZs.

Pullicino also emerges as the second least popular minister among undecided voters and those who would not vote in a forthcoming election. In this category, he only manages an approval rating of 22 per cent.

But among Nationalist voters, Pullicino still enjoys an approval rate of 64 per cent, surpassing Tonio Borg, Ninu Zammit, Censu Galea and Francis Zammit Dimech.
Overall, however, Minister Pullicino only manages to surpass Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who remains rock bottom with a miserable approval rate of 22.6 per cent.

Methodology: A total of 466 persons were selected randomly from the directory, with 300 accepting to be interviewed. Respondents were asked to assess the performance of each minister in the cabinet. Respondents could give each minister a positive, a negative or a fair rating. Respondents were also asked to state their voting intentions. The results of this part of the survey will be published next week. The results of the survey were weighed according to the age and sex distribution of the Maltese population in the 2005 demographic review.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2007/04/01/top_story.html