PN MP Claudio Grech said Monday he will not be contesting the upcoming general election in order to make space for newer candidates.
He was the fourth MP to announce that he is pulling out of the election.
The announcement was made during a PN activity in Valletta.
Grech said that a few months back he had already told party leader Bernard Grech that the party’s members were calling for renewal. He had, in fact, proposed at a meeting of the party’s executive that there should be a system to create space for new candidates.
Grech spoke of a love for the party which should be above anything else. He said he was announcing that he was giving his own space to other, younger candidates. “I am doing this out of responsibility, because I believe that this party has a great future in its new candidates.”
“I am not taking a step back from the party. I am not doing this out of hard-headedness or some form of disagreement. I will keep working with the leader to put forward the best political programme ever presented in this country so that hopefully, in five weeks’ time, Bernard Grech will be sworn in as Prime Minister,” Grech said.
The Opposition Leader thanked the MP who, he said, has given so much to the PN. Grech said he had mixed emotions about the move, but also felt a sense of positivity “because I know Claudio will remain as one of the pillars of the party.”
He also announced that former Valletta mayor Christian Micallef will be contesting the election on the 1st district.