PN secretary general won’t speculate on possibility of losing third MEP seat

Clyde Puli said however that the party needed to consider why, after having campaigned for EU membership, it has been unable to win an MEP election

PN Secretary General Clyde Puli, General Council President Kristy Debono and General Council Coordinator Amanda Abela
PN Secretary General Clyde Puli, General Council President Kristy Debono and General Council Coordinator Amanda Abela

Nationalist Party secretary general Clyde Puli has refused to speculate about whether the party was likely to lose its third seat in the upcoming MEP elections.

Puli said he could only base himself on opinion surveys in order to gauge the current situation but said he could not say what the election result will be.

“If we analyse the previous MEP election, the PN barley elected a third representative, and so we must take a step back and look at why the party which campaigned for EU membership has not yet won an MEP election,” he said. 

He added that looking further back could give the PN insight into what underlying problems could be affecting its electoral performance.

Puli was answering MaltaToday’s questions following a press conference launching the PN’s general council, which will have the theme ‘Flimkien għal Pajjiżna’.

The council, which beings on Sunday, will be based on principles of social solidarity for the many and not the few. “We will be discussing the reorganisation of the party, so we can make sure that the new changes are in place for the next general election.”

Puli said that during the council he would be presenting work done by the party’s administration.

“This will be the first general council for which the new leadership has served more than a year,” he said.

The party, he said, would also be presenting results from work carried out in its role as Opposition party.

 “We have been a positive opposition and we have contributed to many issues that have arisen,” Puli said.

This included, he said, efforts by the party to have the government’s Conrinthia deal retracted, proposals on a reform of local councils as well as a number of court cases filed by leader Adrian Delia, most notably that in which he asking for the publication of the full Egrant inquiry report.

Turning to the party, Puli noted that active party membership was at an all-time high, adding that the number of active members was the highest it had been in 13 years.  

He also said the party’s finances had improved, in part due to a number of successful fund raising marathons.

Puli also praised the success of the PN’s new youth branch ‘Future Leaders’, whose members are slowly being integrated into the party’s structures, he said.  “We are giving young people the power to influence political decisions.”