The Nationalist Party’s Secretary General Francis Zammit Dimech appealed to those who resigned from their positions to reconsider their decision and know that they will always remain welcome within the party.

After PN’s leadership election came to a close on Saturday, a number of people who worked within the party handed in their resignation. Some of those were also local councillors.

These people supported Adrian Delia and felt that they had to hand in their resignation after the new PN Leader, Bernard Grech, was elected on Saturday.

Following this affair, the Malta Independent contacted Zammit Dimech, who said that he received a total of 10 resignation letters.

Despite this, he did not describe the situation as a haemorrhage and added that “at this point no resignation is accepted.”

Some of these people include Deborah Mifsud, a PN Councillor in Birkirkara, Andre Grech who resigned from SMEPN group and automatically lost his place in the executive committee, popular presenter Louise Tedesco who resigned from all positions occupied in the PN, including that of a local councillor, and two other councillors: Doriana Portelli in Birzebbuga and Charmaine Aquilina in Marsa.

Zammit Dimech appealed to these people to reconsider their decision as “they are people who have contributed greatly to the party; therefore, their input and contribution will remain necessary.”

Zammit Dimech moved on to directly making an appeal to those councillors who announced their resignation.

“They should consider the fact that that they were elected to represent nationalist voters, and those same nationalist voters deserve to remain represented by the people they chose.”

He urged councillors to honour the trust that was placed in them by the PN voters.

Asked whether he personally reached out to these people to try and convince them to reconsider their decision, Zammit Dimech highlighted that “it is my intention to make further contact with the people concerned, and I have already personally responded to most messages.”

“Although some are still pending, I will try to reach every single person, possibly over the coming days,” he said.

“I understand they are hurt, even though this pain resulted from a democratic process. I want to make sure that they know that they will remain welcome in the party.”  

He explained that their initial response to his urging them to stay on has not been positive.

“Although I respect their decision, I would like people to reflect further and to understand that this is a party that belongs to all of its members and not solely to one group or the other.”

He said: “We need to understand that, be it in any other democratic European country, elections for different party posts do happen from time to time. It’s not a question of having a fixed timing.”

What is important is that the process is carried out in a democratic and fair manner, he added.

Zammit Dimech emphasised that ultimately it is the party that is considered to be the winner and not the candidate. Therefore, the party and every party member are the winners.

“We need to be proud of the fact that the party has been able carry out such a process despite difficult circumstances,” he said.

Asked for his opinion on whether he thinks this internal election pushed people further away from the PN, rather than attracted more people to support it, Zammit Dimech remarked that “we are in no way pushing people away. We constantly emphasise that this party has its doors wide open, not only to its members but also to others who may wish to form part of it as they share the same values.”

“There may be others who are interested in joining our real struggle, which is not against members within the same family but the struggle against corruption and criminality,” he said.

MPs react to PN resignations from The Malta Independent on Vimeo.

The Malta Independent yesterday spoke to a number of PN MPs, who said reactions are to be expected after every leadership election, but hoped that the people who left would reconsider their decision.