Casa and Metsola re-election is two-fingered salute to detractors - Jason Azzopardi

Jason Azzopardi has interpreted the combined result of Nationalist Party MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa, as a “two finger salute” to those who worked against their re-election.

In a Facebook post this morning, the PN MP noted that Casa and Metsola obtained 60% of the party’s vote tally in the European election.

Metsola obtained 38,206 votes to get elected on the first count, while Casa received 20,493 votes. The PN polled a total of 98,611 votes.

Azzopardi’s post was immediately followed by some poignant reactions from people who support the PN, accusing him of trying to sow further division in the party.

The post was followed by a second one a couple of hours later in which Azzopardi praised the qualities of the two MEPs.

Jason Azzopardi took to Facebook to vent his thoughts on Roberta Metsola's and David Casa's re-election

Azzopardi also described Casa’s re-election as “the one and only consolation for the PN".

“There is a message there which needs to be analysed well by the PN," he said.

Azzopardi stressed that Casa was personally criticised by the Prime Minister. “In reality, this is the only battle Muscat lost in recent years,” he added.

Azzopardi’s public outburst on the success of the two incumbent MEPs and the mixed reactions he received reflects the current state of the PN as people try to come to grips with the magnitude of Saturday’s result.

'Don't minimise impact of result' - Perici Calascione

While the party leadership has insisted the bad electoral result was not as bad as surveys were projecting, former leadership contender Alex Perici Calascione did not mince his words.

Perici Calascione described Saturday’s defeat as the PN’s “worst defeat in history”, as he outlined several facts about the result.

In a like-with-like comparison, Perici Calascione said gap in votes grew to 42,656 from 33,677 in the European Parliament election of five years ago.

He also projected the European election loss onto the outcome of the last general election, insisting that the difference between the parties had grown to 16.4 percentage points from 11.5.

“Every electoral result is a message from the people to the political parties. We all have the duty to listen to this message, accept it as it is and examine it so we will be able to translate it into action,”he insisted.

Perici Calascione called on everyone in the party not to ignore the election result or “minimize its impact and meaning”.

He also sounded a cautionary note: “Nobody is bigger than the party and within this party there is place for everyone – everyone is included and nobody excluded.”

Perici Calascione said he was willing to give his contribution to ensure that by the next general election the PN would be a party that could be trusted as a “serious, credible, honest and inclusive” party that could present itself as an alternative government.