Norma Saliba's application to contest the election for the post of Labour Party president is a way for Prime Minister Robert Abela to reward her for turning the national station into his own propaganda machine, the Nationalist Party said in a statement Saturday.

Saliba applied for the post while still a PBS employee, although she is now heading the centre for Maltese language, the PN said.

Abela's request for Saliba to become PL president is proof that Saliba served Abela well when she turned the national media into a partisan propaganda machine for Abela, the PN added.

During her tenure as head of PBS news, the station had been found guilty of breaching the PN's fundamental rights three times, the party said.

While still a PBS employee, Saliba has said that it was Abela who encouraged her to contest for the PL post.

Abela is rewarding someone who breached the Opposition's rights three times and turned PBS into Super One 2, the PN said.