Frank Portelli says that all people should declare their sexual orientation before getting married.

Portelli is one of the four contestants for the leadership after Simon Busittil resigned following the 3 June electoral defeat.

Interviewed by The Malta Independent online editor Stephen Calleja on INDEPTH, Portelli says that marriage is a covenant between two people who vow to live their sexual life exclusively with each other.

 

This should therefore impose on the two partners a declaration of their real sexual orientation before entering into such an agreement. Before marrying, partners have the obligation to be honest with each other about their sexual orientation with each other, Portelli says.

Portelli says that he is the biggest chance the Nationalist Party has to win.

Portelli said that in the coming election for leader councillors and members have the opportunity to decide whether to keep going in the same direction “straight into a wall”, or else take a different road towards success.

“I will turn the PN into a winning machine,” he said.

One of the biggest problems the PN has is that people in the party share the same thoughts. This is wrong, he said. One has to think outside the box.

In the interview, Frank Portelli says that Simon Busuttil should not have stayed on as interim leader of the Nationalist Party after resigning after the general election loss.

Busuttil should have found someone like Louis Galea to lead the party temporarily in between his resignation and the election of the new leader, Portelli said.

Busuttil is making mistakes, with the latest one being the attack on the integrity of Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi.

The PN will be seeking the recusal of Mr Justice Mizzi from hearing an appeals case filed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and six other people involved in the Panama Papers scandal. The appeal was filed after a magistrate ruled there are grounds for a criminal investigation.

Portelli says that just like Labour should not have given jobs to people during the election campaign as a caretaker government, Busuttil, as caretaker Opposition Leader, should not be taking important decisions that will have consequences on the party in the future.

In the interview, Portelli explains why he took the decision to enter the leadership race at the last minute, defends his criticism of the party over the past years and shares his views on gay people, migrants and the qualities of a political leader.