.png)
‘I will never vote reluctantly again’, Jean Pierre Farrugia to abstain
Former MP Jean Pierre Farrugia will not be voting in today’s election to elect two new deputy leaders at the helm of the Nationalist Party.
25 May 2013, 12:00am
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
2 min read
Former MP Jean Pierre Farrugia and deputy leadership contender Mario de Marco. (file photo)
Known to have been a loyal backbencher, former Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia will not be voting in today's election as the party prepares to elect two new deputy leaders.
As if taking for granted that the new deputy leaders will be Mario de Marco and Beppe Fenech Adami, Farrugia said there was no "choice" from which to choose.
"I will never vote reluctantly again... there's no choice," Farrugia said, when contacted by MaltaToday.
Contesting the race are Beppe Fenech Adami and Claudette Buttigieg who are in the running for the post of deputy leader for party affairs and Mario de Marco, uncontested, for the post of deputy leader for parliamentary affairs.
Posting the phrase 'figlio di papà' [daddy's boy] on Facebook, Farrugia argued that this was not the way how a party renewed itself.
"If you ask me whether my father was involved in politics, I'd reply he was a doctor who was persuaded into politics. You don't create two posts to accommodate dynasties," he said, referring to the de Marco and Fenech Adami political dynasties.
Farrugia said he has already made way to new blood: "But there are others who have bigger responsibilities to shoulder and they're acting as if nothing happened. This is why I'm abstaining today..."
This is not the first time that Farrugia has vociferously sounded his opposition to the second, additional deputy leader's post within the Nationalist Party. He had also said that the PN deputy leader for party affairs should not be an MP, much like Labour's own party deputy leader was not an elected MP.
"That is how the PN still works. If a person wants a place in the Cabinet he is appointed even if elected through a by-election (Austin Gatt in 1998) and if the prodigal son (filjozz) is hell-bent on becoming deputy leader we create two (posts)," Farrugia had argued, in the latter example referring to Fenech Adami.
"Who does not change, pays for it Simon!"
Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...
Emmanuel Mallia •
@ lapira Where is change ? The trio, simple Simon, Demarco and Beppe all have been anointed, and approved by RCC and Gatt. And no matter what simple Simon is trying to feed us, they are still his backstage, obscure advisers.
•
it is a disgrace how someone like Jean Pierre Farruga could admit that he used to vote reluctantly even though he may have disagreed with what Gonzi was doing, does this person realise how many maltese people suffered because there were pn's like him who did not care about Gonzi's desicions and voted reluctantly.Well done Jean Pierre Farruga. What Now Pierre??
•
Tal lejber qedin jghidu li b' Demarco Mario u Beppe IL PN baqa tal klikka u ma geddietx...... lol. Jien nistaqsi lil tal lejber li MLP wara tkaxkira wahda wara l-ohra u lahqu Toni Abela u Anglu Farrugia bhala deputati mexxejja tal ejber kien igedded il lejber lol??!! u iktar minnhek qrgajna rajna nies fil lejber li kienu jimmilitaw fi zmien Mintoff u KMB. ARA VERA IL QAHBA MILLI JKOLLA JTIK!!
Emmanuel Mallia •
You should stick to your own personal principles, like Franco did!
Maureen Attard •
Missek ikkontestajt Jean Pierre. Issa Ghalaq halqek. Kieku kkontestajt kien ikun hemm kontestazzjoni ohra. Tparlax zejjed.
•
It is one abstantion against 800 votes!!!
It's not like a minority that has to be respected but more like trying to hear a lone voice hearing in a crowd of cheerleaders!!
I cannot understand why such sore losers are given so much importance!
•
JEAN PLEASE !! REFRAIN FROM BEING REDICULAS JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE PN PARTY YOU WERE PART OF AND THE FRACASE YOU ALL LEFT BEHIND. ITS UNDERSTANDABLE YOU WILL NEVER VOTE AGAIN, WHEN A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT YOU FORGOT ONE THING HOW SARCASTIC YOU WERE ALL AND HOW YOU FILLED UP YOUR POCKETS AND HOW YOU KEPT BEHIND L.GONZI WHEN YOU YOURSELF NEW THE COUNTLESS MISTAKES HE WAS DOING.THE PARTY IS FINISHED AND THE LONGER SIMON STAYS AS LEADER AFTER DOES RESULTS THERE THEY WILL ALL STAY IN THE BACK SEATS!!!! X NATIONALIST
•
Simon, We need real change not this !!!
•
really hit the hammer on the head with that statement there
'You don't create two posts to accommodate dynasties'
And lest we forget Simon Busuttil is Gonzi's boy.
There can be no real change with such people leading the party.
•
Who told you we did not change Dr.Jean Pierre, we got rid of you , jeffrey and franco, I think thats more than enough.
•
Who told you we did not change Dr.Jean Pierre, we got rid of you , jeffrey and franco, I think thats more than enough.
•
Who told you we did not change Dr.Jean Pierre, we got rid of you , jeffrey and franco, I think thats more than enough.
•
For general council president you have a choice. Louis Bonnici is a new face with fresh ideas. We should support him as I am sure he will make a difference. It is a pity the party did not give coverage. Good luck Louis
•
These people keep telling their own that they lost the last election, because they had been there too long, and for no other reason.
When people from inside the party tell the policy makers, better known as the clique (
bloggers 'n all) that another reason is because we have to keep the dynasties happy, even if they have already proved to be utter ignoramuses as far as doing anything of real value for the electorate goes, well this is just not music to their ears.
And while they objected strongly to the DNA remark, this is really how it works there, if your
DNA is part of your CV then no further 'proof' is needed, punto e basta, sorry Claudette, this time you're out of the running!
•
Well said straight from the horse's mouth! In the sixties we had the Borg Oliviers followed by the Demarcos and Fenech Adamis and their lackeys! Lets be frank as we say in Maltese lill Beppe,Claudette u Simon tghasarhom flimkien ma johrogx qatra sugu!
•
Jghaddu dawn il-hames snin, tkaxkira ohra b'Simon Busuttil, u terga' tibda l-gwerra qaddisa tas-sebghajnijiet bejn iz-zewg familji: Demarco u Fenech Adami. Tghannieq u bews quddiem min jarana, u stalletti minn wara. U l-PL ikompli jahdem u jissoda waqt li jikxef li skandli u korruzzjoni tal-ahhar snin. U l-PN ikompli jghaffeg
•
I agree with Dr Farrugia that no candidates for the Executive , whether for officials or for ordinary members should be MPS and besides this the so called positive discrimination should be done away with and female candidates should be elected on their their own merit!
•
Comparisons are odious.............and cabinet posts should be selected on the basis of capabilities and not mere number of votes. The two gentlemen contesting the deputy leadership are honest, capable, loyal, professional people and above all gentlemen in the true sense of the word.
