Rosianne Cutajar event closes Mrieħel bypass for hours as political rivalry moves to streets

Thousands of commuters faced a gridlock last Sunday after one of Malta’s main traffic arteries, the Mrieħel Bypass, was closed for more than eight hours for a horse racing event sponsored by Labour candidate Rosianne Cutajar.

The event, attended by tens of horse racing enthusiasts, saw the bypass transformed into a makeshift racecourse. The road was cordoned off and guarded by Transport Malta and LESA officers, while kiosks selling food and alcohol were set up in tents along the arterial road.

The races reportedly ran from 6am until 2pm and culminated in the presentation of trophies by Cutajar.

This was the second such event in recent months. In February, the same bypass was closed for several hours on a Sunday for a similar race sponsored by Labour MP Ramona Attard.

Attard, a former aide to disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, was co-opted to Parliament by Prime Minister Robert Abela without ever contesting general elections and is reportedly seeking to build support in the Qormi district, traditionally considered Cutajar’s political territory.

While thousands of motorists were diverted onto secondary roads so horse owners and jockeys could race on the bypass’s tarmac, observers raised concerns about the poor, potentially unsafe conditions of a road designed for cars being used as a racetrack.

Questions were also raised over apparent disregard for animal welfare, with no officials from the Commissioner for Animal Welfare’s office or the Veterinary Regulation Directorate seen on site.

Transport Malta CEO Kurt Farrugia, a former colleague of Ramona Attard at Castille, did not reply to questions from The Shift asking how the Authority justified closing one of the island’s main roads for horse racing.

Sources within Transport Malta said such races were held in the past but were stopped years ago because the disruption to traffic, along with health and safety concerns, was deemed unacceptable. Yet Transport Malta reversed course following pressure from a small group of horse racing enthusiasts, particularly from Qormi, and political lobbying by Labour MPs.

Meanwhile, during Sunday’s races on the Mrieħel Bypass, the official horse racing track in Marsa went unused.