Independent MP Marlene Farrugia said that she does not exclude that the Democratic Party of which last week she was elected leader will contest the next election under the Nationalist Party ticket.

Interviewed by The Malta Independent online editor Stephen Calleja on the programme INDEPTH, Dr Farrugia said discussions on a possible coalition between the PN and PD started on an informal basis with PN leader Simon Busuttil.

She believes that the parties opposing the government should join forces to eliminate a government that on the one hand reduces the benefits of poor people while at the same time promotes "the right hand man and the left hand man (of the Prime Minister)" for opening companies in Panama.

If needs be, the PN and the PD could contest the election under one flag, she said, adding that she does not exclude that this flag could be that of the Nationalist Party.

"We do not exclude anything that could work in the best interests of the country," she said, saying that her party will try to convince the people that they deserve a better government than one which signs contracts behind their backs and, when tabling them in Parliament, blanks out some of the pages.

In the interview (click on footage above), Dr Farrugia was also asked about her own political future and that of the PD, the role of small political parties, the offer that was made to her by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for her to take on the role of President of the Republic and why she interrupted the PM during his budget address last Tuesday.