Gozo PN candidate says election campaign turned into an adventure that changed him

Gozo-based activist and Nationalist Party candidate Luke Said, who failed to win a seat in the 30 May general election, has said the campaign was an adventure that changed him.

His comments comes following controversy related to Alex Borg's decision to drop the 12 district.

The PN announced casual elections across the 3, 5, 7, 10, and 12 districts after several dual-elected MPs were required to vacate one of their seats. Borg had been expected under the party's statute to give up his 13th district seat, though the PN later sought a reinterpretation of the statute to allow him to keep his Gozo seat instead.

"The decision to contest an election is difficult for many people, especially for someone quiet and introverted like me," Luke wrote on Facebook. "But this was something I genuinely wanted to do, and I was determined to give it everything I had.

Said said the campaign pushed him far outside his comfort as an introvert, taking him to homes, village feasts, exhibitions, and cultural activities across the island. He said it grew into something that widened his view of the environment he lives in, of society, and of those around him.

While known primarily as an environmental activist, Luke said the campaign allowed him to speak on a broader range of issues affecting Gozitans' daily lives, from parking in Mġarr and connectivity to opportunities for young people on the island. He also spoke on Fort Chambray, the Ġgantija temples, Calypso's Cave, and on Gozo's autonomy and regionality.

"Gozo is a politically particular place," he wrote. "It is not a district like the others. It is an island in its own right, with its own specific needs. It needs to be represented as fully as possible, given value, holistic value, so that it remains our Gozo: the island of villages, of sustainable progress, the place we return to for a breath of relief."

He thanked the PN for trusting him with the opportunity to contest under its banner and said the party has many people of quality from whom he has learnt values that go beyond politics. He congratulated fellow candidates Frank Anthony Tabone, Norma Camilleri, and Beppe Galea on their election and expressed gratitude to PN leader Alex Borg and his team for their support.

Said also thanked friends who became campaign colleagues, and young Gozitans to whom he said he tried to give a voice through policies that went beyond party colours.

He said public service does not begin or end with an election result, and that he would be ready to contribute whenever the party needs his values and views. He added that he had already returned to voluntary work the day after the result, something he described as always having been part of who he is.