Mr Muscat agreed to quit after coming under intense public pressure over details surrounding the slaying of Daphne Caruana Galizia who campaigned against corruption on the mediterranean island. His announcement came after thousands of Maltese marched on a courthouse in the capital Valletta demanding he step down.
In a televised message, Mr Muscat said he has informed Malta’s president that he will quit as leader of the governing Labour Party on January 12 and pledged: “In the days after I will resign as prime minister.
“Our country thus will start a short process of approximately a month for the Labour Party to choose a new leader and a new prime minister.
In his address, the prime minister struck a defiant tone, saying that every day since the murder he had shouldered responsibilities in “the interests of the conclusion of the case”.
But he admitted ”some decisions were good while others could have been better made”.
He said: “As prime minister, I promised two years ago that justice would be done in the case of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
“Today I am here to tell you that I kept my word”.
“All the responsibility I had to shoulder surely does not compare to the pain that the victim’s family is enduring.”
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There was no immediate reaction from members of the Caruana Galizia family who led yesterday’s protests.
Calls for Mr Muscat to quit intensified after the investigation into Ms Galizia murder led to charges on Saturday against a prominent businessman with alleged ties to government ministers and senior officials.
He acted after businessman Yorgen Fenech, 38, was taken to a Valletta court late on Saturday and charged with complicity in the murder. He pleaded not guilty to that and other charges.
Fenech was charged after the government turned down his request for immunity from prosecution in return for revealing information about the murder plot and about alleged corruption involving Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, among others, court filings showed.
Schembri and Mizzi resigned last Tuesday and Schembri was interrogated for two days by police before being released without charge. Schembri has denied any wrongdoing. Mizzi denied any business links with Fenech and any wrongdoing.
Critics are angry with Mr Muscat for sticking by Schembri, an old friend since school, and including Schembri in security briefings on the investigation even after Fenech was identified both as a suspect in the murder and an associate of Schembri.
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Opposition leader Adrian Delia said in a tweet, the country could not wait another single day for Muscat to go.
He said: “He should have resigned a long time ago.
“Every day he stays in office means another day where justice is not done and not seen to be done. The prime minister has lost his legitimacy.”
Mr Muscat has been in power since 2013 and won two general elections in a row, the last in 2017.
President George Vella followed his address with an appeal for calm.
He said: “I hope justice is done with all those involved in this atrocious act which has cast a dark shadow on the national conscience get what they deserve.”