Hopes for an early election dashed after coalition between Gonzi and JPO

MaltaToday will feature a news analysis in tomorrow’s print edition on the cost of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s pact with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to create a coalition and Pullicino Orlando’s resignation from the Nationalist Party.

Pullicino Orlando was once a Gonzi acolyte who became heavily involved in controversy over a planning permit for a disco on the pristine Mistra land he owned.

He was then turned into a martyr by the party machine only to be ditched as a liability once the dust settled.

Gonzi has effectively lost control of his own fate, which depends on the continued support of Pullicino Orlando who is now formally outside the grasp of party discipline.

The Labour Party’s hopes for an early election may have also been lost as this unexpected coalition agreement came to be.

Franco Debono appears to be overshadowed by Pullicino Orlando’s latest antics  and could attempt anything in an attempt to recover centre-stage to satisfy his cravings for attention.  

At what cost does Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s pact with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando as kingmaker come? Where does the ‘coalition’ leave the other political actors?

MaltaToday also takes a look at the role played in the approval of a disco in the middle of the pristine countryside in the victory and implosion of GonziPN.

Read the analyses by James Debono in tomorrow’s MaltaToday.