Michael Piccinino, who has served in the role of General Secretary within the Nationalist Party for three years since being elected to the position in 2021, published a statement on Sunday morning in which he declared that he will be stepping down from the post and intends to run as an MP candidate in the upcoming general election.
Piccinino, a 29-year-old lawyer, said that with the process of approving the first candidates for the upcoming general election beginning next month, he believes that the time has come “to concentrate on the next step” and submit his name as a candidate. He added that the process to elect a new PN General Secretary will begin in the coming weeks, and that he will continue the work until that process concludes.
The lawyer described his time occupying the role as “the best three years of my life”. Thinking back three years ago, he said that PN Leader Bernard Grech had asked him to run for the post and that it was not an easy decision, but that he agreed to do it after much thought and encouragement from former MEP and now acting President of Malta, Francis Zammit Dimech.
“They were not three easy years, rather they were three years of great sacrifices, but if I had to go back again, I would make the same choice,” Piccinino remarked.
In his statement, he listed some accomplishments the Nationalist Party achieved during his tenure as General Secretary, among them, he said that he is proud that the PN achieved its record amount of votes in the European Parliament elections, and that the smallest gap in votes in the last sixteen years was achieved during the three years he served in the role.
He said that now, thinking back three years later, he thanks everyone involved with the PN for their work. “I look back at the work done thanks to the strength of many people, officials, MPs, councillors, candidates, workers, volunteers, and activists of the Nationalist Party. Thank you for your work, everything that was done, was done with the strength of each and every one of you.”
Piccinino said that although this was not an easy decision, he believes that now is the opportune moment to make such a decision so that the next General Secretary has enough time to find their feet and “have enough chance until the next general election to ensure that the Nationalist Party is the alternative government that our country needs so much.”
“Now more than ever, we have an obligation to work together under the direction of the Party Leader to give a different direction for our country, a country that should belong to the many and not the few, but above all, to have a leadership of the country that is there for the needs of the people and not for itself.”
He concluded by saying that he remains willing to be of service to the PN in whatever is needed. He thanked PN Leader Bernard Grech for entrusting the party’s administration to him, “a youth who was 26-years-old at the time”, and also thanked the members of the General Council and the PN Executive.