On 30 May the PN General Council will elect 13 new members in the national executive. In the past days I have received the vote to choose among those who are contesting for these posts.
This election can be fundamental both for the party as well as for the future of our country. The main reason is that the newly elected executive will in turn choose a new general secretary, who will be responsible for the administration of the party.
Although the nominations are still open and the official list is not known yet, I presume already that there will be some already-known names on the list.
My hopes for the party are that new faces will manage to get elected in the national executive. We need to renew ourselves to be capable to offer a respectable challenge to the MLP in the next general elections.
I will be voting for the national executive for the first time and I can assure those who will contest for the first time my full support. Obviously it goes without saying that we need to have a mixture of experienced and new blood in the national executive.
What choice should councillors expect? I expect to see the name of a particular person; MEP Simon Busutill.
In my opinion this person is respectable and more importantly he has already proved his potential. In 2003 he was instrumental in the EU referendum campaign.
His calmness in rebutting those individuals who were campaigning against the EU membership is a status symbol of his character.
In the last general election Dr Busutill was once again one of the key players in forming the PN electoral programme and in managing the press conferences during the campaign.
More importantly Dr Busuttil will undoubtedly be a serious person to eventually succeed Joe Saliba in the post of general secretary.
I consider him a suitable person for this post for two further reasons. First of all he is already a national figure being popular among the electorate having obtained 58,899 votes in the European Parliament elections. A personal record of votes.
Secondly at this moment in time in my opinion there is no one in the party who has the same experience and capabilities as he has. Consequently for us the councillors Dr Busuttil is a natural and logical choice.
Apart from Dr Busuttil I am convinced that there will be other valuable persons who are capable of giving the necessary stimulus to the party. We must also respect those who have built the party during the years, making it a victorious one. I must thank Joe Saliba for having been instrumental for the victories in the last two general elections and Austin Gatt for having revamped the party when there was the need to. My special thanks go to newly elected Speaker Louis Galea, because thanks to him the PN saw a re-birth during the years in opposition.
This gentleman has during the past decades characterised the political life of our country. He has already contributed a lot to our country and to the PN, but I am convinced that he still has a lot to contribute to our nation.
It is now the duty of the councillors to make a serious choice and choose those who can lead this party to further victories. We must be responsible as our choice will not only affect our party but our country as a whole. I hope that future generations will look back on our decisions and agree with them.
In the next days I hope that those who will be contesting will show us their vision for the party and what contribution they will be giving to our party to renew it further.
Not. Joseph L. Attard
Xaghra