Clyde Puli will be PN’s next secretary-general, Pierre Portelli to head party media

New PN leader Adrian Delia has stamped his authority inside the PN with allies Clyde Puli and Pierre Portelli in two sensitive party posts.

Nationalist MP Clyde Puli is the only candidate running for the post of PN secretary-general
Nationalist MP Clyde Puli is the only candidate running for the post of PN secretary-general

Nationalist MP Clyde Puli looks set to become the party’s next secretary-general, having been the only one to submit his nomination by today’s noon deadline.

Puli will be confirmed secretary-general pending a vote by the party’s executive council, with outgoing party secretary Rosette Thake having resigned after the 2017 election. 

The former The Malta Independent director of content Pierre Portelli, who had previously been touted for the post has been confirmed as executive chairman of Media.Link – the PN’s media arm.

MEP David Casa, who was also planning to run for secretary-general, decided not to contest the post, adding that he had more to offer in his role of MEP in Brussels.

Casa was expected to run for the post with a possible candidature from Pierre Portelli himself, the latter having consulted Delia on his leadership and emerging as his right-hand man in recent weeks.

After Casa announced he would not run, it turned out that Clyde Puli was the only candidate who had submitted his nomination for secretary-general on Friday. Portelli, a veteran journalist at Net TV, was placed at the helm of the PN's media arm.

When contacted and asked whether he would still have pulled out had he known that Portelli was planning to take up a role at Media.link, the MEP insisted that he had taken his decision after speaking with Delia and agreeing that he could serve the party better in Brussels. He said his decision was taken without considering who else would be running for the post.

Another Delia ally, Nationalist MP Kristy Debono, was last week elected president of the PN General Council. Her husband Jean-Pierre Debono could be expected to stay on as assistant secretary-general.

There is only nominee contesting each of the remaining posts.

Nominations:

  • Secretary general – Clyde Puli
  • Executive council president – Mark Anthony Sammut
  • Administrative council president – David Stellini
  • Treasurer – David Camilleri
  • International secretary – Roselyn Borg