Partit Demokratiku MP Godfrey Farrugia said today that he is open-minded about contesting for the post of party leader. Farrugia said that there was still time still till the decision needs to be made, but that he’s not sure yet whether he will go for it or not.
Last Saturday, leader Marlene Farrugia said that she will not remain party leader. The new PD leader will be elected at the party's annual general conference in October.
Asked this morning, Godfrey Farrugia said the position is open to all members and that the party remains one team; “we move forward as one, with Malta’s interests at heart.” When asked about how many members are in the party and who can contest the leadership, Farrugia said that he did not know the exact number of members. “I do not know how many members are in the party, I am simply a member myself. It isn’t in my own hands to know how many”.
“We are one team and we do not have the competition and even negative sides to a party leadership contest that other bigger parties experience," he said.
Farrugia was also asked by the media about Marlene Farrugia's comments on the four contestants for the Nationalist party leadership, when she described them as being “non-starters”. “The PD has to work with the Nationalist Party because we form part of the parliamentary opposition. We are obliged together to scrutinise the executive and the power it holds; it’s our duty. We need to work today to be an effective opposition. I have not made any comments about them and I will not make any comments about them now. The leader of PD is Marlene and she has expressed her own opinion, which also is also the opinion of the party and all questions on that you should be ask to her,” Farrugia replied.
Farrugia also spoke about the possibility of PD contesting the European Parliamentary elections. “This is something that needs to be discussed, for now there are other things dominating our agenda. It is something that we do not exclude and will be deciding in the future probably when there is a new leader”.