‘Mad’ Franco ruined party’s plans for 2013 elections, Gatt tells activists
Minister Austin Gatt hosts meeting for street-leaders at PN headquarters. Son will run social media campaign
Clarified reference on Gege Gatt on Tuesday 17 January, at 5:37pm.
Nationalist party street-leaders were told in no uncertain terms by Transport Minister Austin Gatt last Saturday that the government had been planning for an election to be held in 2013, punctuating his statement with an impolite characterisation of Nationalist MP Franco Debono.
"We were planning an election for the coming year, before this madman messed it all up," Gatt said during the meeting, convened at 11:15am on Saturday.
As many as 200 street-leaders and activists were present at the first meeting Gatt held at the PN's headquarters on the party's strategy for possible elections, should Debono vote in favour of a no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition.
Gatt confirmed that the election strategy team will be consist of himself, Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana and former secretary-general Joe Saliba, apart from PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier.
Gatt was called upon by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to take control of the election campaign, after the minister said he would not be running for office again.
Also present for the meeting were assistant secretary-general Jean Pierre Debono, who directs the party's electoral office Elcom.
Austin Gatt said his son Gege, a director of web development company Icon, will be running the party's social media strategy.
Gatt also informed street-leaders and activists that they would be supplied with three different lists of grievances and affected constituents, and that they were expected to gather information on complaints related to planning permits and other licences.
Relations between Debono and Gatt were further strained when the backbencher abstained from voting against an Opposition motion of no-confidence against Austin Gatt, over the problems encountered in the public transport reform inaugurated last summer, insisting that the minister should "shoulder the responsibility" for the reform.
Debono subsequently supported a motion of confidence in the government, moved by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
This is not the first time that Gatt refers to his least favourite adversaries as not being in total control of their mental faculties.
Opposition leader Alfred Sant filed a civil libel against Gatt back in 2007, over defamatory allegations he made in the PN's General Council when he said the former prime minister was a possible subject for the Discovery Channel show 'Altered Statesman' - a programme about politicians who had a drinking problem and took drugs while making decisions.
Gatt has already warned MPs during last week's PN parliamentary group that a March election will lead to a landslide defeat "like the PN has never seen before".













































































