Justyne Caruana is one of the youngest of the candidates being fielded by the Malta Labour Party in the 12 March elections.

Only 28 years old, and just three years a lawyer, she is contesting in Gozo.

She insists, in her own very nice way of putting things, that she is a Gozitan “and very proud of my roots”.

Her childhood and educational background are very much like those of so many other boys and girls from Gozo. Born in Rabat, an only daughter, she feels enriched by her nurturing in her family. She attended the Agius de Soldanis Junior Lyceum and later on Sixth Form. Then she studied Law at university. Her first degree, a BA in Legal Studies, also included a secondary subject: Italian, her second love.

She is now practising as a lawyer both in Malta, where she forms part of a law firm, and in Gozo.

“I was brought up immersed in politics,” she told me, “since my early childhood, I always remember political discussions at home with my nannu and my father.”

She was still very young when she came in contact with what was then called the Ghaqda Zghazagh Socjalisti and later with similar groups at the university. Back in Gozo, she became involved in district committee work where her legal studies stood her in good stead. Steadily, she has become more involved in the electoral process and was the sub-delegate of the party in the referendum campaign and in the last three local council elections.

She admits that she was thinking about becoming a candidate in the 1992 election, but she was too young then. She did not contest the 1996 and 1998 elections because she was still at university. So election 2003 is the first opportunity for her, a very natural step considering all she has done in the past.

Ever since she declared her decision, she has found tremendous support from her father, while she feels she is fulfilling the deepest desire in her grandfather’s heart.

Her friends all expected her to move towards politics at some point because when she takes part in seminars she tends to be given the speaking role.

“We have specific problems as Gozitan students,” she said. “It would seem that other people consider us to be something less just because we come from Gozo. I always fought this perception, and being committed politically for me means that I will be able to do something concrete to remove this stigma.”

Ever since she declared herself to be a candidate she has been doing house visits. She has been warmly welcomed all over Gozo by people of her same persuasion and by people who support the other party. “I try to be very careful when I visit, especially as regards the timing of my visits,” she says. But she has found that people are cordial and very nice. They may express a different point of view but otherwise she has found that people open up.

There are social problems in many of the houses she has visited: many people are worried, especially about unemployment. Many people live right on the edge and losing their job can cause a major trauma. This is producing continuous stress for many people, since the whole family suffers if one member has employment problems.

People worry they will not be able to cope with the standard of living and Gozitans always prefer to solve their problems by themselves, without asking for help from anybody.