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The new Nationalist Party executive committee elected on Friday routed out all dissident elements in the former executive leaving most of them in the cold. A bloc vote in place against the dissidents in the ‘Dalli camp’ worked wonders, but it also confirmed that a comfortable 35 per cent supported the dissident faction out of a total of the 750 votes cast.
Secretary General Joe Saliba garnered 60 per cent of all votes and came ninth in the race. Frank Zammit, the most vocal of all the dissidents, increased his voting share from 241 last time to 260, but failed to get elected. He no longer has a voice in the PN having relinquished his post as Marsa sectional committee president. John Dalli’s daughter, Claire Gauci Borda an elected councillor from St Paul’s Bay received the same amount of votes (259).
Other critics such as Michael Mercieca received 211 votes and did not make it to the executive.
Interestingly enough in the election for PN leader, Dalli had received 219 votes from the PN councillors.
The second highest number of votes were reserved for Peter Darmanin the propagandist who rallies hard core Nationalist on the radio by reminding them of the exploits of the Labour government over a quarter of a century ago, top voter recpients incuded Paul Borg Olivier and Henri Darmanin. Reggie Abela, who supported John Dalli in the leadership campaign just made it in at position 13, avoiding the full brunt of the block vote with 315 votes.
Abela remains one of the veteran members of the PN but appears to have fallen out of favour in the administration of late and was ousted from being elected as a regional representative in the St Julians area.
The faction that was most critical within the PN will not be represented on the executive committee and some of Gonzi and Saliba’s critics will now end up with a muted voice.
When questioned yesterday about the fact that Frank Zammit would not be included in party structures, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told MaltaToday “There were 31 candidates; Frank Zammit is not the only one not to be elected, there were several candidates, all of them valid and if it were possible I would have kept all of them on the executive.
“But we have a democratic process and people have to be chosen. I myself was elected as leader. The fact that they weren’t elected shouldn’t mean they have been eliminated… they have all the opportunity to contribute within the party structures, which start from sectional committees.”
“Our committees are the most important element to keep in touch with the grassroots, so whoever is committed to spread our political message for the good of the country has all the space to do so.
“We’ll keep meeting sectional committees and discuss ideas and policies … the space is there, it has to be occupied. In life you participate as much as you want to give a service to others, and our party will remain open to such people. Obviously not everyone can be party leader, an executive member, or an administration member… there are different levels in which one participates depending on the opportunities that open up.”
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