Democratic Party secretary-general Marco Cremona resigns from post

Marco Cremona has resigned from his position as the secretary-general of the Democratic Party (PD) after only five months in the role. 

PD leader and independent MP Marlene Farrugia told MaltaToday that Cremona, a renowned hydrologist, chose to resign after realising that he was unable to commit to the job as much as he would have liked to. 

She added that he had wanted to spend more time with his family and young children. 

Attempts by this newspaper to contact Cremona to get an official comment about his resignation failed as of the time of writing. 

Farrugia, a former Labour MP, denied that his resignation was in any way connected to her recent confirmation that she plans to join the Nationalist Party in a coalition against the Labour government. 

“He had made his intentions to resign to me long before I had called for a united Opposition,” she said. 

Farrugia last week issued a rallying cry to opponents of the Labour government to join forces so as to overthrow it from power. 

“Like I was there to help elect this thieving government, now I have to be there to bring it down,” she said. “The attitude adopted where everything goes and corruption is acceptable has to end. For us to stop them, there has to be a viable, alternative, honest government.”

Although talks are still at an early stage, Farrugia told MaltaToday that she has no intention of seeing the PD become part and parcel of the larger and far-more established PN. 

“The PN and the PD will remain two separate parties,” she said. 

Marlene Farrugia launched the Democratic Party last June, along with a temporary five-person executive. Along with herself and Cremona, the team also includes Anthony Buttigieg as deputy leader, Duncan Bonnici as treasurer, and Monique Agius as public relations officer.

Party executive will be elected on a permanent basis when the PD convenes its first ever annual general meeting, scheduled for 16 October. 

In an interview with MaltaToday in June, Cremona criticised what he perceived as a prevalent bipartisan mentality within the Maltese electorate. 

“A lot of people can’t appreciate the fact that I might agree with Labour on some things, and that I would crane myneck out on Facebook to say ‘this is a good proposal’, but at the same time agree with proposals put forward by the Nationalist opposition. Or a Nationalist government, for that matter. I will support any proposal I consider to be valid, so some people find it difficult to pigeonhole me.”