PN wants LCA president to resign over Facebook comment

The Nationalist Party’s councillors’ college has accused the president of the Local Councils Association of mocking outgoing President George Abela in a Facebook status update.

Marc Sant, a nephew to former prime minister Alfred Sant, was said to have posted a comment ‘toasting’ the appointment of Marie Louise Coleiro Preca as President of the Republic by saying: “today we are rid of an opportunist to finally have a true altruist” – the reference to George Abela ostensibly being the unflattering appellation of ‘opportunist’.

Abela had resigned from deputy party leader of the Labour Party in 1998 when Alfred Sant decided to hold early elections as he faced a political crisis in his one-seat majority. Relations between the two men have been cool ever since, and Sant claims his appointment as President by Lawrence Gonzi took place without any form of consultation.

“We feel the LCA should take action against Sant,” Angelo Micallef, a PN local councillor for Marsaxlokk and executive committee member of the PN’s college for councillors, said.

“This is unacceptable… if the LCA takes no steps against its president, it should be Sant himself, while apologising publicly to Abela, to resign from LCA president. In such an important role, Sant should have the decency to respect the highest authority of the state and not describe it publicly as an ‘opportunist’.”