[WATCH] PN ‘halfway there’, pledges to dedicate itself to the people – Busuttil

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil says the party is 'halfway there' and that the party had made gains 'against all odds'

The Nationalist Party is 'halfway there' and pledges to dedicate itself to the people

During a political activity at the Siggiewi Nationalist Club, opposition leader Simon Busuttil announced that the Nationalist party had halved the gap from the Labour party in the local council elections.

"We are halfway there," Busuttil announced, saying that PN had also managed to secure St. Paul's Bay to much clamorous cheering.

Busuttil also referred to the tragedy currently unfolding in the Mediterranean. He appealed the government to give its assistance and ensure that as many lives as possible could be saved. He also urged the government to secure talks with the EU and pledged his support to such talks.

Busuttil added that the results of the local council elections were a sign of good things to come;

"We have managed to narrow the gap by half in practically a year, we can only imagine what we will achieve in the next election," he said referring to last year's MEP elections where the gap had remained rather pronounced.  

Busuttil addressed those who had doubts about how far the nationalist party could get and urged them to realise that the PN could in fact make a difference, given these results.

"We have seen a substantial rise in votes and PN has won nine more seats in local councils," Busuttil said listing the localities where a PN majority had won including Siggiewi and St. Paul's Bay among others.

"We have also made important gains in the traditionally, predominantly labour south of the island," he said to the sound of cheering, adding that the PN was determined to become the party of the south as well.

"We have made gains against all odds," Busuttil said referring to the labour party's mud slinging tactics and use of personal attacks.

Busuttil said that the result showed that prime minister 'Joe' Muscat had shown that he was not invincible.

"We have made great advances, but a lot yet remains to be done," he stressed explaining that the PN had a lot more people to convince and issues to address.

"The road ahead is still hard, but we are halfway there," he said to the cheers of those gathered.

Busuttil said that the PN wanted to no longer act merely as an Opposition but as an alternative government.

"It is not enough to just oppose, but we have to propose alternatives to the current government. I hope the party will continue to regenerate itself," he said looking forward to the announcement of various new measures and initiatives in the coming weeks.

Busuttil pledged that he would ensure that the party became once again a party of the people. He added that the PN had taken stock of the result of the Gozitan electorate and that it wouldn't give up on the area.

"The greatest lesson to take from this election is that we should never give up. The nationalist party plays to win," he said adding that these results filled the party with energy, optimism and courage to continue working together to ultimately win the marathon.