Fenech Adami not ruling out new deputy leadership bid

He was part of the leadership team that saw the Nationalist Party losing for the second time to the Labour Party with 35,000 votes, but Beppe Fenech Adami is not disheartened.

Along with leader Simon Busuttil, secretary general Rosette Thake, parliamentary affairs deputy leader Mario de Marco and executive president Ann Fenech, Fenech Adami announced that he would be resigning his position as deputy leader for party affairs, within hours of the humiliating loss.

Informed sources have told MaltaToday that Fenech Adami was interested in contesting the role of deputy leader for parliamentary affairs – a rumour which Fenech Adami has not denied outright.

Contacted by MaltaToday, Fenech Adami would not deny interest in the role, insisting that “one never excludes anything in politics”.

He however categorically denied any interest in contesting for the leadership, to become Busuttil’s successor.

Sources have told MaltaToday that Fenech Adami has started meeting councillors, although he has denied this.

The PN will be selecting its new leader in September, after which preparations will kick off for the elections of the deputy leaders and posts within the party’s administration.

Fenech Adami, son of former PN prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami, insisted that there’s still a while to go for the deputy leadership election to take place.

“We will see when the time comes,” he replied, when asked to rule out interest in the deputy leadership role for parliamentary affairs.

Fenech Adami said that it was for certain that he would remain active within the party.

On 4 June, 2017, Fenech Adami, flanked by de Marco, conceded defeat, telling the press in the counting hall that the party must now analyse the damning electoral result and look forward.

“We must analyse the result and look to the future, so that the Nationalist Party can continue to progress,” he told reporters inside the counting hall.