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The two blocs in the Nationalist Party representing different factions have fielded an unusual number of women candidates for the PN’s next election for the executive, taking advantage of a new clause in the statute that favours women candidates.
The party administration appears to be pushing a number of women candidates little known in party circles. These include Margaret Ann Azzopardi, Lina Caruana, Christine Deguara, Helen Ebejer and Wendy Giusti Scicluna.
The other camp, dominated by John Dalli amongst others, has also fielded its women candidates. Indeed one candidate is in fact Dalli’s daughter, Claire Gauci Borda.
Both sides intend to take advantage of the positive discrimination clause which was included in the statute last February.
The election is seen by many observers as a test for the establishment within the party and others vying for a radical change within the party administration.
The last executive meeting on Wednesday 30 March was incorrectly portrayed as a calm and serene meeting by last Sunday’s The Malta Independent which went on to choreograph a PN executive meeting with all sides joining hands in unity.
In reality the PN executive meeting was one of the longest and thorniest meetings since Lawrence Gonzi was elected leader of the Nationalist Party.
One comment made in the meeting was that about former PN secretary-general Victor Ragonesi, who after commenting about the need for the change in the PN’s administration in The Times and MaltaToday, was described as “an imbecile”.
Another remark was that the goings-on in the executive always ended up being reported in
MaltaToday. A parliamentarian referred to the presence of a winning team and a losing team within the Nationalist Party.
Yet the most significant sign of a party facing a crisis of unity was the spontaneous decision to suspend the agenda and to exclusively discuss the local council elections defeat.
The traditional presentation by secretary-general Joe Saliba on the electoral results was scrapped and a long discussion followed.
The meeting came to an abrupt end after 10.15 p.m. when many executive members started complaining that it was getting late.
Meanwhile last Tuesday, only around seven out of a total of 47 PN candidates turned up for a meeting at the party headquarters held purposely for them.
Chaired by Michael Mercieca, the meeting lasted less than an hour. This was the fourth time the so-called Candidates’ Forum met since Gonzi was elected party leader last year, grouping candidates who fail to get elected in elections.
Candidates complained of waning interest within the party although when contacted Mercieca told MaltaToday that it was normal for candidates to be inactive in between elections, especially those who were unsure whether to contest in the next elections.
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