PN executive rejects calls for leadership election by popular vote, sets date for May 4

A visibly exhausted Lawrence Gonzi emerged from a five hour long meeting of the Nationalist Party's executive committee meeting late last night, and announced to the press that the election for his successor will take place on Saturday May 4.

Gonzi, who last Wednesday was sworn in as Opposition leader after serving nine years as Prime Minister, reiterated his position that he will not be seeking re-election as party leader in the wake of the major electoral defeat the PN sustained at the polls on March 9.

The nominations for the PN leadership contenders will open on Tuesday April 2, and close on Friday April 5.

The election will be held among the party's 900 councillors during an extraordinary General Council, which will convene on May 4, despite calls from a number of MPs - among them Mario de Marco, Robert Arrigo and Clyde Puli - for the ballot to be opened to all paid party members.

Gonzi said that both he and the party were "open" to this, but said that the PN executive decided to stick to the party's statute in a bid to serve the national interest.

"We are and will remain open to this, and we had a discussion to this effect," Gonzi said, adding that opening up the voting for party leadership to all paid party members would mean a lengthy process, and therefore delaying important institutional decisions.

He augured that the new leadership would eventually look into the possibility of making an amendment to the PN's statute to be able to widen the election process for the participation of paid up members.

A candidate will have to win the support of two-thirds of the council members in order to be declared elected party leader at the first round. Should more than two candidates be nominated the last one will be eliminated and another round of voting will be held, a process that can theoretically be repeated several times, albeit the party has set May 10 as the deadline to elect a new leader.

So far, nobody has declared his intention to contest for the post of PN leader, even though a number of senior figures have been touted, among whom the current deputy leader Simon Busuttil, former ministers Mario de Marco, Chris Said and Tonio Fenech, and MP Beppe Fenech Adami.

Gonzi reiterated that his current appointment as Opposition leader is "temporary."

He said the Opposition was committed to working in the national interest, with the immediate priorities being the early convening of Parliament and the approval of the Budget.

The quick approval of the Budget, he said, had assumed even more importance in view of the international situation, especially in Cyprus.

The Opposition would vote in favour of the Budget as long as there were no changes other than an amendment to ensure that minimum wage earners did not pay income tax.

Deputy, Secretary General

The leadership election will be followed by the election of the deputy leader on May 25, also by the councillors. Incumbent deputy leader Simon Busuttil also declared that he will not be re-contesting for his post.

Nominations for deputy leader will be received between Saturday May 11 and Tuesday May 14.

On Wednesday, Simon Busuttil presented his formal resignation as a member of the European Parliament to take up his post as a member of the Maltese House of Representatives.

In his resignation letter to EP president Martin Schultz, Busuttil admitted that he would be missing Brussels but said he was "enthusiastic to contribute towards a strong Opposition in the Maltese Parliament".

The Executive will then elect a new General Secretary, with incumbent Paul Borg Olivier having declared he will not seek re-election. This election is envisaged to be held on June 6, together with the rest of the party officials.

Electoral Commission

The PN's executive appointed an electoral commission that will be chaired by Censu Galea, and David Casa, Boris Xerri, Joe Pace Axiak, Ben Pulè and Herbert Messina Ferrante as members to oversee the electoral process.

Districts

The PN's executive committee convened at 6:30 pm and ended at around midnight after a secret ballot was taken among the members on what seats were to be conceded by six MPs who were elected from two districts in the general election.

It was decided that Lawrence Gonzi will cede the Second District, while Simon Busuttil will cede the Ninth District. Robert Arrigo will also cede the Ninth District, paving the way for two new MPs from this traditionally PN stronghold, which on March 9 showed lower PN voter turnouts.

George Pullicino will cede the Tenth District.

Former health minister Joe Cassar will cede the Eleventh District, and former finance minister Tonio Fenech will cede the Twelfth District.

The PN has this week also filed a constitutional application, insisting it lost the election by seven parliamentary seats not nine.

Court battle

In a new court application filed on Wednesday, the PN said its candidates Claudette Buttigieg and Frederick Azzopardi failed to be elected from the eighth and 13th districts respectively due to errors in the counting process.

The "serious shortcomings" of the Electoral Commission violated the electorate's wishes, the proportional representation rule and the European Convention's human right to free elections, the PN argued.

Had one or both of the PN candidates been elected, Parliament's composition would translate into a seven-seat majority for Labour instead of the nine seats awarded, the PN insisted, citing the proportional representation formula outlined in the electoral law.

Defeat analysis

Meanwhile, the PN's executive also decided on nominating a special commission with a remit to compile an analysis as to the reasons behind the electoral result and humiliating defeat suffered by the party.

The commission will be made up of Dr. Anne Fenech as chairperson, and Simon Mercieca, Maryanne Lauri, Malcolm Custò and Rosette Thake as members.

This commission has been asked to prepare a report by not later than May 31, in order for the new leadership to be in a position to immediately address the issues and work on the analysis findings.