Said, Grech, Metsola: options open for possible PN leadership bid

The Democratic Party leader and MP Marlene Farrugia has said she would not rule out running for the PN leadership… but that, it seems, would be impossible. Any contender for the post, to be elected by all paid-up members of the party, has to be a member of the PN for at least two years.

Away from this grandstanding, speculation is now rife over who will throw their hat into the ring to take the helm of a distraught Nationalist Party, whose drubbing at the polls was worse than that in 2013. Down went Opposition leader Simon Busuttil – who often reminded the press how he started at “minus 36,000” back in 2013 – and with him, deputy leaders Mario de Marco and Beppe Fenech Adami, secretary-general Rachel Thake, and council presidents Ann Fenech and Paula Mifsud Bonnici.

Deputy secretary-general (and freshly elected MP) Jean-Pierre Debono, treasurer Alex Perici Calascione and international secretary Trever Degiorgio have also submitted their resignation. 

But the likely contenders who have been rumoured to be possible bidders for the PN helm have underlined the need for radical soul-searching by the party, and for the most part have been coy in declaring their intentions.

Gozitan MP Chris Said, a former minister who took over as secretary-general in 2013, did not exclude submitting his candidature for party leader, saying he was considering his options, but said that it was not the right time to make any announcements. “I do not fear challenges,” he said.  

Adopting a similar wait-and-see stance is Nationalist MP Claudio Grech who was elected on the First District. “I have made no decisions. I’ll keep my options open,” he said.

“Over the last weeks my entire efforts were focused on striving as much as I could in the intensive campaign, not much on my own future in the PN,” Grech said, adding that “right now, rather than talking about succession, I feel we should reflect and carry out a thorough soul-searching exercise.”

Grech said he will work hard to contribute towards a process wherein the PN re-shapes itself into a visionary alternative government, “which wins the hearts and minds of people.”

“Many argue that the country requires a strong opposition. True, but we need to go beyond that. The country requires a robust and viable alternative to this government. People don’t vote for opposition but for government. Irrespective of my role, I am determined to give my time and effort into this process.” 

Nationalist MP Clyde Puli could not be reached for comment.

MEP Roberta Metsola, who like Busuttil saw her political career kick off in Brussels, told maltaToday “this is a tough time for the PN. Simon Busuttil and the leadership only announced his resignation yesterday and the Parliamentary Group is not yet fully formed.  We should avoid rushing into anything, our priority now must be on understanding the message of the electorate, healing our Party and on coming together as a country.”
In a strong hint of a possible candidature, she said “there are very many capable people in the Party who wish to contribute to the cause and I will of course be one of them serving the Party in these challenging times for us to re-group and emerge from this stronger,” she said.

The former Nationalist MP Franco Debono, who broke ranks in 2012 and then brought the PN government down by voting against a money bill, is claiming he has received “hundreds of messages and phone calls” from PN supporters and is now taking stock of the options. The election defeat and subsequent resignations showed that he had not been the problem with the PN, he said. 

“There is a sense of despair. A lot of hard-core Nationalists who had been angry at me in the past have said that they had realised that it was not I who was wrong but others.

“What I can say is that I have substantial support. And this is with me outside of the party. Imagine if they had allowed me to work… This is why I’m receiving these messages. They realise that those who worked against me were wrong.

“On my part I am just listening. There is great and deep anger on the part of the supporters towards the party because the party they love has lost two consecutive elections. It is clear that they took the wrong decisions... If you don’t have the right people around you, you’re doomed.”

Debono said that a party that loses by a 35,000 margin could not start off by treating its adversaries like mosquitoes. 

PD MP Marlene Farrugia has clarified that she was open to leading the Opposition, not specifically the PN. “I consider leading the Opposition, because we are the opposition and in parliament the Opposition is under one whip. Do I exclude leading the Opposition? No I don’t exclude it.

“Before the election we were the PN and the PD... now we have to look to the future. We have to create an opposition that can first of all be strong enough to withstand a strong government and all the implications that brings with it. Apart from that we have to build something the people can see as a potential alternative government. We have to create an opposition that actually reflects the needs of the country now and when we come to the elections whenever that is.”