It was not to be a normal campaign for the youngest and one of the most talented women in Maltese parliament. She is not only one of the few women in parliament, but she is also Gozitan, young, as well as a married practicing lawyer, added to all that, she was eight months pregnant when the Prime Minister decided to call it a day on the previous legislature and kick off an electoral campaign.
Justyne Caruana, 33, tells maltastar.com of her experience on the campaign trail, literally weeks before delivering her wonderful baby, Josephine. “It was different than five years ago when I first contested elections. This time round I was weighing 72 kilos, which is some 22 kilos over my normal weight, so one of the first problems was a mobility issue. I had to slow down even though I did not want to stop home visits and seeing clients. But there were moments when it had to be baby first,” says Justyne, when asked about her experience during the electoral campaign.
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Saturday 8 March was a particularly difficult moment for the young MP as Labour did not manage to obtain the majority of votes to govern, but her personal result shows that her efforts were successful. She almost doubled her first count votes having obtained 3,169 votes.
“It could have been even better than that,” says the young MP, “but considering the circumstances, that was a fantastic result and I promise I will deliver and work even more.”
Asked whether her pregnancy hindered her campaign, Justyne said: “I had a difficult pregnancy and spent some time in hospital even before the actual campaign started. I did not stop working even from there. I turned my hospital room into an office and the hospital’s waiting room into my own office’s waiting room, with people queuing to see me for professional and political reasons. When they saw I did not even stop working in hospital, my doctors told me to take it easy. Out of hospital, I wanted to continue working, not only for personal votes, but also for the party. I was ready to make that extra effort, yet I had that big conflict inside me. My first priority was to protect my baby, but at the same time I am not the type to sit back, so I wanted to continue.”
The Labour MP said that campaigning is all about seeing people and knocking on doors. But how was it possible to continue doing door-to-door in her state?
“You try and find an alternative. So I continued doing door-to-door… but instead of entering people’s homes, I stayed in the car and my father, uncles, cousins and friends knock on doors and people would come out to see me in the car. It was different, but it worked and constituents understood the situation,” she said.
Baby Josephine was born on 15 February, bang in the middle of the campaign. “It was a very important moment for me, yet difficult. It took me another week to recover and at that moment it was all about baby Josephine. My family was very important for me, not least my husband, Silvio, who is of great moral and physical support. When it was not possible for me to continue campaigning, my father, uncles and aunts, cousins, my 88-year old grand father and friends, continued the job for me. But it was not easy for them, they used to joke, saying that campaigning for me without me actually being there was like having a procession without a statue.” Her life since the arrival of her baby has taken a new twist. “Silvio and I will be making sure we give the best upbringing for our baby and of course continue working. I did not stop and resumed work the day after elections. My mother takes care of Josephine when we are at work and in the evening we spend time with our baby.”
“My message goes out to all young women, not to give up and always look forward. In the last five years I was elected in parliament, started practicing as a lawyer, got married and now I have a baby. Everything falls in its place if you keep the faith and have the will and courage to continue, this is not only for women in politics, which I encourage, but also for women who want to build a career. Where there is will there is a way,” said the Labour MP.
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