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[WATCH] Gonzi casts his vote in leadership contest - slideshow
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi casts his vote as up to 887 PN councillors vote in the leadership election where incumbent Lawrence Gonzi is the only contestant.
25 February 2012, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
2 min read
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi casts his vote during the PN leadership contest. (Photo: Ray Attard/MediaToday)
Additional reporting by Miriam Dalli
Nationalist Party councillors are today voting in the leadership election, in which Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, the only contestant, is widely expected to be reconfirmed as party leader.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi cast his vote just after 1pm.
Voting is currently underway at the PN headquarters in Pietà and at the PN's office in Victoria, Gozo. The ballot opened at 11am, while former PN leader and prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami voted at around 11:30am.
Meanwhile, two food stalls have already been set up outside the PN's headquarters, an indication that a crowd of supporters might gather outside the headquarters later on this evening when the results will be announced.
Out of the 900 eligible voters, 12 councillors did not collect their voting document. Yesterday, PN councillors were being strongly urged by the party's higher echelons to collect their voting document and vote for Lawrence Gonzi.
Up to 200 voting documents were still uncollected Thursday evening and in a last-minute effort to urge councillors to collect their vote, councillors received a number of SMSes and phone calls.
Party sources informed MaltaToday that deputy prime minister Tonio Borg personally called individual councillors urging them to collect their voting document.
Last month, Lawrence Gonzi submitted his leadership of the PN to a secret ballot in a bid to consolidate his leadership after his government was threatened by a no-confidence vote, in which Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono abstained.
To retain the party leadership - which he is expected to - he will need a two-thirds majority of all votes cast. Although Gonzi has refused to set a threshold to reach in order to achieve a legitimate victory, the result he gained when he was elected leader in 2004 will unquestionably be used as a benchmark.
In the last round of the 2004 leadership contest, in which Gonzi was uncontested, a total of 859 votes were cast. He was elected in a second round of voting with 808 votes after rival candidates John Dalli withdrew from the contest after the first round, and Louis Galea was eliminated in the first round.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
Luke Camilleri •
Was the Prime Minister allowed to answer questions by the Media regarding his vote....for a non-vacant post of P.N. Leader?
Will he be answering or making a Press Conference tomorrow or will he just issue a statement?
Is there a Trophy, a medal ... or just a Participation Certificate for the winner "?" ?
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DAN GHADU MA XEBAX IDAHHAQ NIES ARA VERA L FARES F DAL PAJJIZ MA JISPICCAW QATT XI BCEJJEC DAWN UKOLL
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"Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he's sure of losing. That's my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat."
Eliot, George
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Fenech Adami il-President ta Malta kollha xorta baqa ittesserat fil PN mhux bhal Presidenti l-ohra. Anton Butigieg kien l-ewwel President li rizenja mill partit ghax kien qall li issa huwa mhux aktar politiku. Fenech Adami li ma tantx kellu xi presidenza li tikteb xi ktieb dwarha , wera bic car li meta kien President kien ta nofs Malta. Mhux ta b'xejn li nofs Mata ma kalkulatux ta President. Nista nimmagina kif ivvota, irrid jidlek ix xaham ghaz zurzieqa
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Why they all where laughing and look so happy?
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@lemin
sihbi zbaljajt fil verb ''hadmukhom''.. rid tikteb ''hadmuna''. hadmu lil poplu malti kollu ghax hu [il poplu malta] se jkollu jara kif jamel bix ihalas dawk il 4.5 biljuni li se jhalulna fil wirt il pn wara kwart ta seklu fil poter!!!!!
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Ara vera haw' minn ghandu l-ghatx f'dan il-pajjiz...ghal-poter imma....insomma x'tipretendi minn partit fl-opozizzjoni ghal-kwart ta' seklu...tal-GonziPN hadmukhom wahda sew...u se jhallukom tkomplu bil-ghatx.......
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So Austin is not the only F.W. in this pathetic club.
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Iddahhaqniex Gonzi. Ma min qed tikkonsta? Gibtna lura fi zmien, Lenin, Breshnev, Pol Pot, Mugabe u x'naf jien. Dittatura bil-pulit. Hemm buss 889 kunsillier pulcinell. Il-Poplu, fosthom jien, se nghidulek x'nahsbu s-sena d-diehla. Gawdi l-ahhar ftit xhur.
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Two PN members absenting themselves from the vote is perhaps more significant politically than the number of delegates who will vote to confirm LG. The threatening clouds of a political storm are still there within the radar reach of parliament.
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Is Dr.Eddie Fenech Adami going to abstain or vote against Dr.Lawrence Gonzi to give a chance to someone else to become leader of the P.N. In this way he will be paving the way to his son Dr.Beppe Fenech Adami . Afeter all , it's all in the family .
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At last , the one horse race had begun . The total lenght of it's course is 887 Mts . It could also finish without the full length being completed . It could also finish with a photo finish . No bets are being accepted due to the financial situation . Results will be published as soon as the race is finished .
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VIVA Gonzi! Ser jirbah b'maggoranza assoluta!
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Imsomma jekk jirbah Lourie ikun gie l=ewwel,jew ta qabel l-ahhar,,,imsomma ghada iklellem lil kunsiliera,ma nafux xha jighdilhom ???li issa ghandu il maggioranza tad delegati sorry Kunsilliera u allura jismi imexxi ,,,u Franco ser ihallih tighd imexxi,,,u sa jighdilhom ukoll li Il karnival issa veru spicca u ghadda..
Gharaxni Gonz ha Nidhaq lol
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You left the caption out.
It should read: POLAND IS NEXT!
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Anyone wants to bet 1c that Gonzi will win this race???
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This 'election' is surely the biggest joke of the year! How is it possible that the delegates and the PN itself, are not seeing that Gonzi is humiliating them into voting for him and him alone - dictatorship like. Gonzi did not even have the decency of vacating the post- even for one decent week - to respect the Pn statute , nor gave the delagates a choice. ( Who in his right mind will contest the incumbent Prime Minsiter unless political suicide is on the cards?) In the circumstances, anything less than 99.9% of the votes , should be considered a black mark against Gonzi. Why? Because when there is only one candidte, and he is your current leader and Prime Minister, and no one else to choose from, the whole exercise is nothing short of a charade and a fitting extension to Carnival. The next decent thing we expect is for Gonzi to have the guts to ask the same leadership confirmation from the people. U mela le......jigri!!
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Jista xi hadd jilluminani u jghejdli kif tista tghamel elezzjoni ( kompetizzjoni )wahdek ? Sa fejn naf jien f`elezzjoni (kompetizzjoni ) ikun hemm rebbieh u tellief....Min ser ikun ir rebbieh nafu...mela nistaqsi...Min ser ikun it tellief ? Thejd il Partit Nazzjonalista innifsu ? il parlament ? il poplu in generali ? Min ?
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Issa jew Gonzi jew id dell tieghu se jigi lewwel.
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I thought 'CARNIVAL' was over for this year!
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Il-mistoqsija hi: ghaliex Doctor Gonzi ried li jsir kuntest ghal mexxej?
(a) Biex ikun jista' jdur fuq Franco u jghidlu li, mhijiex il-klikka imma, hija l-maggoranza tal-PN li tridu kap.
(b) Biex juri li l-Partit Nazzjonalista hu partit maghqud.
(c) Biex jiggwandanja aktar hin qabel isejjah elezzjoni generali.
(d) Ghall-gid ta' Malta u Ghawdex.
U ladarba jirbah x'se jigri? Se tkun solvuta l-problema kbira li ghandna fil-Parlament, jigifieri li l-gvern m'ghandux l-appogg tal-maggoranza tal-MPs? Le. Allura mhux fejn konna se nkunu bqajna.
Min veru jrid il-gid ta' pajjizu ma jahlix hin f'mument tant iebes ghal bosta pajjizi Ewropej, inkluzi ahna. Doctor Gonzi, veru li jien seqer, imma beccun m'iniex.
Ara kartuns li ghamilt dwar il-Wisq Onorevoli Lawrence Gonzi - "Il-Mexxej tad-Dinja" - fuq http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7pT1EL-xe8
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The comedy show continues. Or as the Monty Python sketch would have said, "Spot the Looney"
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Kemm jien sfortunat u iddizgrazzjat li m'inix wiehed minn dawk it-877 delegat tassew ixxurtjati li ser jiehdu sehem fil-farsa tal-lum imbuttata b'mod mhux daqstant serju minn gonzipn. Ghax jien cert li gonzipn se jgib 99.99% tal-voti - hekk kieku jaghmlu fl-antik il-mexxejja tac-Cina, tar-Russja Komunista, tal-Vjetnam, tal-Kambodja, tal-Koreja - mhux tajjeb jew li tkun tgawdi fiducja fost il-klikka tieghek stess b'mod daqshekk spettakolari? L-ebda mexxej fl-Unjoni Ewropea ma ghandu dan l-appogg, zgur mhux forsi - u issa gonzipn ikollu kull ragun jiffanfra quddiemhom waqt li jiggebbed 'l hemm u 'l hawn u jtawwal ghonqu biex jidher itwal waqt xi family photo tal-mexxejja tal-Unjoni ......
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Il-lejla Dr Gonzi zgur se johrog rebbieh bhal shabu l-world leaders l-ohra li ikkontestaw wehidhom fosthom Mubarak, Gaddafi, Saleh, Chavez, u Castro.
