Debono Grech says his election was a ‘miracle’

After serving in Parliament since 1976 uninterruptedly, getting re-elected last March was no easy feat for Joe Debono Grech. 

But in an interview with Sunday newspaper ILLUM, the Labour MP believes a ‘miracle’ turned things around in the last electoral campaign.

“Initially I was not going to contest, but I could not refuse the party’s request. During the door-to-door campaign, I became aware I was not faring well. I made this known to a family I was visiting and they gave me a handkerchief from Medjugorje. I realised things started getting better from that day onwards,” the veteran MP says.

He says he did not lose hope despite he had to face an uphill struggle to get elected, saying it was heart-breaking that while he carried out visits in the rain others were given ample coverage in the media.

Debono Grech also reveals that when he contested the first European Parliament elections way back in 2004, he only did so because he was asked to by the Labour Party.

“I had no intention to go to Brussels, even if I got elected. I was not ready to abandon my family and particularly my wife, who was passing through a difficult time and needed me by her side. I only contested because the party needed to attract the votes of hard-core Labour supporters and party grassroots, months after losing the EU referendum.”

The fiery MP also confessed that he sympathises with Opposition leader Simon Busuttil following the March eelction in which the PN lost by an unprecedented 36,000 votes, adding that it’s still premature to judge Busuttil’s PN leadership.

Read more in today’s edition of ILLUM