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Party establishment to push Simon Busuttil for leader
Former minister Chris Said weighing his options for PN leadership bid
Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil
With its effective control of the majority of its 900 party councillors, the Nationalist Party's "inner circle" will be backing and pushing former MEP, and outgoing PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil, for the leadership of the party.
Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi seems intent on emulating his predecessor Eddie Fenech Adami's move to promote a favourite for succession, as happened in the 2004 party election that saw Gonzi elected over John Dalli.
Many of the General Council's members, appointed councillors after being elected to the local party club's administration, were hand-picked to the club administrations due to a lack of candidates running for the posts. Much of the General Council is believed to be composed of Gonzi loyalists.
Despite some political observers' beliefs that the PN needs a new face to regain its lost political ground, the General Council is looking towards Simon Busuttil as their party's saviour.
On the other hand, aides to Joseph Muscat commented that Labour would be delighted to have Busuttil as Opposition leader, claiming they do not consider him to be the formidable adversary Busuttil set himself out to be when elected deputy leader back in 2012.
"Busuttil failed to impress in the campaign, and often fell into political traps and appeared too naïve or rigid in his approach with voters," one aide commented.
It was business-as-usual in the PN's executive meeting, where the party's administration and MPs decided on a date for the leadership election that will see a new leader, deputy leader and secretary-general being elected.
Two senior members of the PN's executive said that former minister Mario de Marco, long touted to be a leadership contender, would not take any risks to stand in the forthcoming election. "The PN is not even aware of the scale of this defeat," one member said, referring to the lack of introspection going on inside the party's inner circles.
The PN has also decided not to open up the election for a new party leader to all paid-up party members
The party has now appointed a commission to investigate the reasons for the PN's electoral loss that saw Labour elected with an unprecedented 36,000-vote majority. "They are party faithful who will not report on who was to blame and why certain mistakes were made," the same member commented.
Since the report will not be finalised before the leadership election in 4 May, it was ill have no bearing on the choice of the new leader. "They did this because they want full control and to ensure that Busuttil gets elected."
And if Busuttil gets elected, the commission - chaired by Ann Fenech, together with university academic Simon Mercieca, Maryanne Lauri, Malcolm Custo and Rosette Thake - will not be in a position to expose the legacy of Simon Busuttil's contribution during the campaign.
"They plan to blame former transport minister Austin Gatt, and conveniently leave out the role of former secretary-general Joe Saliba, Paul Borg Olivier and their teams in the campaign."
Former justice minister Chris Said has confirmed he is interested in contesting one of either the leadership or secretary-general roles, with reliable sources confirming the rising star has ruled out running for deputy leader.
"Since the election, I have been approached by many people from within and outside the party, all suggesting to me some role or another," he writes. "There were those who said to me that I should consider the leadership, while others suggested deputy leader in order to strengthen the role of that position. Others see me as being suitable for the post of secretary general of the Nationalist Party."
Said stops short of confirming his own preferred role, but it is understood that he is actively considering throwing his hat into the ring for the top job: in which case he is likely to run against former MEP Simon Busuttil, who enjoys heavy backing by the party executive.
In the likelier scenario that Said will contest for secretary-general, his confirmed rival to date include Lija mayor Ian Castaldi Paris.
The nominations for the PN leadership contenders will open on Tuesday, 2 April, and close on Friday, 5 April. The election will be held on 4 May.
Nominations for deputy leader will be received between Saturday, 11 May and Tuesday, 14 May, ahead of a contest to be held on 24 May.
The executive will then elect a new secretary general, with incumbent Paul Borg Olivier having declared he will not seek re-election. This election is envisaged to be held on 6 June, together with the rest of the party officials.
Emmanuel Mallia •
Simon ia a complete replica of Gonzi- treats the man in the street as chicken heads, with their lawyer like,diplomatic, cunning policies and speeches. Much theoretical, hardly practical talk. An example is the hoax, or scam that Simon was appointed to take care of customer care. Now he claims he has nothing to do with the defeat- we are no chicken heads !
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l-Istorja se tirrepeti ruha bhalma gara fil-MLP bl-elezzjoni ta' Dr. Alfred Sant.Biex tkun leader trid tkun:oratur,ikollok lehen iwassal li jifhmek iz-zghir li zgur ma hix il-forte ta' Dr. Busuttil,(bhal Sant), b'id wahda tghin fil-bzonn u bl-ohra issawwat biex jimxu,decisjoni li tasal fejn trid pero bi pjan B ghalmeta ma jirnexxix ta' l-ewwel, trid tkun primus inter paris biex tifhem saz-zghir, u tisma kull parir u wara taqta darba imma trid tqis mitt darba.
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He was supposed to be the down to earth skills master who should have averted a PN defeat at the polls. His performance during the electoral campaign was dismal and lacked persuasion as can be witnessed by the outcome of the Elections result. With Simon Busuttil at the helm of the PN rest assured that PL will have a long spell in government.
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Excellent news for the PL. With Buzullotti at the helm of the PN and his daily cucati, PL is guaranteed to stay in power till the end of the century. He openely stated that he was the architect behind the PN's electoral manifesto. Everybody knows about the massive trouncing that the PN has suffered. So why should Busullotti be chosen may I ask ? Indeed the PN is heading for years and years on end gas down head first into a concrete wall.
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There is no doubt Simon is blessed with the gift of the gab and impressive composure in front of the camera thats for all to see, however Buzuttil was also the most irritating mostly because he was to talking to the nation as if we were goats and sheep !
This is the problem , and no one was buying the lies he said(except the brain-washed)and will continue to say.
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Simon Busuttil will eventually be a super leader. Joseph Muscat was a simple Super One Reporter turned MEP when he became PL leader. From a guy who ridiculed Eddie Fenech Adami for 5 years up to EU membership, an MEP who acted funny in EU parliament and an underdog in the PL leadership election, he turned out to be a respected leader. So I'm more than sure that once Simon is elected leader he will prove himself by building a great team and reunite the party. You labour simpathisers do not want Simon to be leader as e is the only one to give the PN a chance to win the next election. Simon Busuttil our obvious choice. Come on Simon, go for it. You're definitely the best we have.
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Firstly, as far as I am aware no decision has been made, and as far as I am aware Simon himself has not confirmed anything.
Secondly, I have known Simon since I was 8, and I can assure you he is no-one's clone, and neither is he the son of a former political heavyweight. In fact he comes from a mixed family. I know what he was like at school, at sixth form, in university, in student organizations and in his pro-EU work, and he was anything but a clone. Very far from it in fact. He is a man with a mind of his own, with fine modern, secular Christian Democratic principles, and with huge energy and determination.
Thirdly, in the past 9 years as an MEP he has been widely acknowledged as one of the most vociferous of MEPs, even when battling on issues against the approach taken by the Maltese Government led by the same Gonzi you claim he is a clone.
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Splendid decision. Elect a Gonzi clone for leader. This will keep PN in opposition until they have the guts to go for a REAL change of crew to run the ship.
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This is great news for the PL camp because it ensures that if PM Joe Muscat remains focused he is assured of another term of Government as a result of the next General Election. If there was ever proof needed that the PN has really lost the plot, this is it. Busuttil was a stumbling, fumbling and arrogant incompetent as Deputy Leader when he bit off more than he could chew. He also proved to be the stooge of the then governing clique and presumably he is happy (and they are happy too) that he should continue in this role for the PN.
ALBERT FENECH
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Poverello Simon, Pupu kien f'idejn il-KLIKKA TAL-HAZEN qabel l-elezzjoni u Pupazz isir jekk jinhatar Capo.
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Thank you :)
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So because Maltatoday are saying this it means it is gospel truth.
How shallow. It did trigger however a volley of venom that seems
to indicate just how much PL is scared of Simon. Typical reverse
psychology. With the reasoning of some of the contributors Joseph
Muscat should be dead and buried (politically of course) because
he actively worked as Alfred Samt's sidekick I'm successive
Electoral defeats and in the absolute mess of an EU
referendum. Mr. Galdes in particular amused me, with his
ignorance, hatred and sheer shallowness. I trust Simon will
ignore such trash.
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Dan se jkun l-isbah rigal lill-PL u jassigura li jibqa' jzomm u jkattar il-maggoranza massiva li ghandu. Min-naha tal-PN din id-decizjoni turi nuqqas ta' maturita', anzi njuranza grassa ghal dak li jixtieq jara l-poplu. Viva l-klikka tal-hazen.
Emmanuel Mallia •
What a mistake ! A clear sign that PN is still manipulated by backstage dictators, and will continue so !
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Again looking after their interests first and foremost! GonziPN with morph into SSpn (just hear how that sounds!) Will no one save the NATIONALIST PARTY? Does it have to go the way of the DODO? Where are the true Nationalists? Do they have to splinter off to retake their hollowed principled party?
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So it would seem that the PN has not woken up to reality as yet !! It is not the diehards that will need convincing.It is going to take longer than 5 years,mark my words !!
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So it would seem that the PN has not woken up to reality as yet !! It is not the diehards that will need convincing.It is going to take longer than 5 years,mark my words !!
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Once I wrote that Simon Busuttil is a disaster waiting to happen until I realised I had been mistaken and issued an errata corrige stating that the disaster had happened twice: 2008 and 2013 when Gonzi won by the slenderest of majorities and lost by an irredeemable wipe-out. Simon Busuttil by having been instrumental in obtaining both of these hopeless results has already shown the poor mettle he is made of. These people cannot understand that they still wage Cold War era politics that has long since passed its sell by date. They intend to cross-examine themselves. What a laugh. Why don't you ask me Dr. Busuttil if you want to know why you lost? Perhaps you are afraid to hear what guys from the Valletta City's gut have to tell you and be offended by the manner of it. For one you should put a tombstone over your political career and go back to the EU where it seems you met currents of thought you had never come up against here in Malta. I would not be surprised. All the rest, the big US never having been MEPS are therefore by defition idiots. In this day and age of media over-exposure you really have to be a dolt to have to be elected an MEP in order to meet currents of thought that are not insular. Geez, how backward were you then that you had to go all the way to become an MEP in order to enlighten yourself? In another comment you also said that Italy's economic position is much better than France's. Please stop making these stupid comments about subjects you are a complete ignoramus about. There are of course too many other instances where Simon Busuttil has made an ornate ass of himself without even realising. I for example have never seen such a bad act of a hawkish/mawkish politician. He thought he would have an Anglu Farrugia reaction from Joseph Muscat everytime he used his platitudes versus political antagonists. Kemm int nej Xmun.
Mario Pace •
Then certain members from the PN where right in stating that all Councillors should resign so that new ones be elected before the vote for the new leader and also that the new leader should be voted in by ALL PN members and not by party officials only.
With the above in mind i just have to say that the PN will never change.
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The comments by Muscat's aides are as stupid and daft as those by PN aides when commenting on the election of Muscat 5 years ago. Even then Muscat looked stiff and uncomfortable, because like Simon he hailed from a completely different universe, the EU Parliament. Muscat had the advantage of 5 years to get used to things and learn, and he clearly did.....Simon was thrown right into an electoral campaign. The man is the right person to reconnect the PN with civil society, because it is his natural scene anyhow and because he is trusted by civil society. As to cosmetics, he will adapt quickly because he is a hard worker, has tremendous stamina and is very aware of whatever shortcomings he my have shown in the campaign. 5 years time he will perform brilliantly, even if recovering 37k is tough.
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From the frying pan into the fire.All of the same KLIKKA
Maureen Attard •
Mela ghandna 50 sena fl-oppozizzjoni b'Simon iddahhalna gas down go hajt f'kull lezzjoni.
