PD to remain, Farrugia’s parliament seat to be ‘people’s seat’

Having voters elect a Partit Demokratiku candidate to the House of Representatives was a strong mandate for change, and the seat in Parliament won by leader Marlene Farrugia would be the people’s seat, the party executive agreed on Tuesday.

In a post-election meeting, the PD leadership decided that the party would continue its work: being the voice of the people, working at grassroots level across the country and in parliament through Farrugia’s representation.

 “This a strong mandate for change and we will continue to rally for this change, for equal opportunity for all, human rights, rule of law, social justice, diversity and inclusion,” the party said in a statement.

Buoyed by being confirmed the country’s third largest party and being the first – outside the Nationalist Party and Labour Party – to be represented in Parliament since Independence, the PD said it would strive to ensure that the Forza Nazzjonali coalition it forms part of, would provide an active and constructive opposition.

“The opposition should be one that adds to all the many good proposals put forward by the government, but also provides and strives to perfect, as much as is possible – with a constructive spirit – those proposals that run counter to the good of the country,” the statement read.

The PD said it had never had one, overriding ideological or political leaning, and that its members had always tried to challenge each other’s beliefs and open the floor to dialogue on any issue.

“The Partit Demokratiku will continue to be an inclusive group of people with different ideas, hailing from all walks of life and working together purely for the good of the country and the people,” the executive agreed.

Inclusivity, the party stressed, would be its rallying call in the near future, as it played its part in providing a credible opposition that would hold the government to account.