Marlene Farrugia will not seek re-election as PD leader

Marlene Farrugia, leader of the Democratic Party, has announced she will not be contesting the party leadership again at the party’s October annual general meeting.

In a post on Facebook, Farrugia said she would also not be contesting any other post but that she would continue to contribute to the party.

As first revealed to MaltaToday two weeks ago, Farrugia said she would be “focusing on other challenges in my life”.

On 31 July, Farrugia said that, if it were up to her, she would not contest the leadership of the PD next time round, preferring to focus on her parliamentary responsibilities and personal interests. 

“I believe other capable people should have the space and opportunity to help this party achieve what the people need to reacquire faith in Maltese politics,” she wrote on her post today. 

Farrugia was elected to Parliament in the last election together with her partner, Godfrey Farrugia, on the Nationalist Party ticket, under the Forza Nazzjonali umbrella. The couple were formerly Labour MPs, with Marlene Farrugia breaking away from Labour and setting up the Democratic Party late last year. Godfrey Farrugia also parted ways with Labour a month before the June 3 general election. He had been party whip.

The couple were the first MPs from a third party to make it to the House of Representatives in decades – the small parties were eliminated at the 1971 general election, when only Nationalist and Labour candidates were elected.

In her post, Farrugia invited friends and followers to a party at her residence in Qrendi tonight at eight.

Anyone wishing to contest any of the party posts in the upcoming AGM would need to have attended at least two of the three social gatherings planned in the interim.