From Parliament to party: Speaker seeks advice on agenda, PN gears up for elections

On Wednesday afternoon the Speaker of the House Michael Frendo met with Prof. Ian Refalo, the parliament's legal consultant.

The meeting focused on the latest political developments following Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's announcement to forge ahead with a 9 May vote on the money bill to implement the 2012 budget measures.

The announcement infuriated backbencher Franco Debono, who remains adamant to have 'his' motion - or the Opposition's - on justice and home affairs debated before any other bill, given the time that has lapsed since being tabled.

Debono yesterday was seen talking to Frendo at least four times, and later engaged in a 15-minute private conversation with Opposition leader Joseph Muscat who stunned the few people present inside the Chamber, when he crossed the floor and sat on the far end of the government bench for a tête-à-tête with his former St Aloysius classmate.

While Muscat told MaltaToday he had chatted to Debono on "parliamentary matters", Franco Debono approached the Speaker's chair once again.

Frendo left his chair at midday, where he then held a meeting with Refalo until 12:30pm.

Debono insists he will "do anything" to have the justice and home affairs motion debated "without further delay", but has not commented on whether he or Labour will table a guillotine motion to force the debate on justice and home affairs to be held with urgency.

If Debono abstains on the 9 May money bill, the Speaker will have to once again use his casting vote to keep Gonzi's government afloat.

But as things stand, it is the government that sets the parliamentary agenda through the Leader of the House and there is little room for manoeuvre. The Chair may be called to give a ruling - through the House Business Committee - to have the motion brought forward before May 9, should either Debono or the Opposition table a new motion calling for the pending justice and home affairs motion to be heard with urgency.

Away from Valletta, the Nationalist Party has been gearing up for an eventual snap election since January, shortly after Gonzi called on Minister Austin Gatt to take up the party's electoral campaign.

It has also secured the return of former secretary-general and ace political strategist Joe Saliba, practically sidelining his successor, Paul Borg Olivier.

Gatt is rarely seen at his ministry, and his parliamentary presence is down to a minimum. Saliba, who left politics shortly after securing Gonzi's re-election to power in 2008, moved on to the private sector as a consultant to party benefactor and entrepreneur Zaren Vassallo.

Gatt and Saliba have taken over the second floor at the PN headquarters, which houses Gonzi's political office - tellingly, Borg Olivier's office is at a level below, giving colour to the rumours of the secretary-general's reduced influence on the forthcoming electoral campaign.

The second-floor 'war room' is not accessible by everybody, save for new security staff and other campaign staff which include university students from the SDM movement, entrusted with research and voter follow-up.

One party source has insisted with MaltaToday that Borg Olivier is not always kept in the loop and that emails are not always copied to him, although this newspaper has not been able to verify the extent to which Borg Olivier has been sidelined.

The party coffers are said to be "in dire straits", a claim based on the fact that party and media employee salaries were paid a week late in March. PN-friendly entrepreneurs have now been asked to donate towards the forthcoming electoral campaign.

On Tuesday evening, MaltaToday witnessed street-leaders and other party activists collecting confidential information on 'disgruntled voters' - a common practice in Maltese elections - to see how to address any concerns and secure their votes.

A billboard strategy is also in the offing: the advert bases have already been re-touched with fresh blue paint in a field in Naxxar.