Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1124848
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JUNE 2019 NEWS not about me. The party has its structures in which its members can force a confidence vote. At any time they want, they can take that step." He even side-stepped sugges- tions that Mark Anthony Sam- mut's impassioned plea to the leadership to assume its respon- sibility for the PN's worst result ever, meant that he should pack his bags. "I think that everyone has their political responsibility to shoul- der. Mark Anthony Sammut felt that his had to be carried by way of resignation. I think my politi- cal responsibility is to fulfil the mandate entrusted to me by our paid-up members, and see that it is carried out, that the party is changed. "We can analyse this result, and we can see that the people have given us a clear message: the PN has been told it has to stay in Opposition. But the PN has to change before making its claim for power. This challenge has to be surmounted before we can present ourselves to the elector- ate and humbly ask for the peo- ple's trust." Swipe at Azzopardi Delia was equally candid about yet another of his arch-detrac- tors, the MP Jason Azzopardi. Wilfully ignoring a plea by PN deputy leader David Agius from hanging the party's dirty laun- dry out on social media (Azzo- pardi recently said Metsola's and David Casa's re-election were a two-fingered salute to the PN leadership) the MP was today on Facebook again sniping at Delia: "So who had no role in our politi- cal strategy is assuming respon- sibility and resigning," referring to Sammut. "While those who devised and carried out the strat- egy, could not care less. That's some establishment!" Delia acknowledged that bridg- es with Azzopardi had been burnt. "I will ignore Jason Azzopardi. He has been doing this for some time and it has done the PN no favours. "Azzopardi has to carry his own political responsibility and explain to the people how these actions have 'helped' the party. I have always tried to make an advance to Jason, but I don't think I will lose any more time dealing with what he says on social media. I won't ask him to resign for what he says, but peo- ple are certainly making their decisions." of Delia ally Jean-Pierre Debono "There was a feud between Robert Arrigo and Kristy Debono, and Roberta Metsola – they were at each other's throats, hurtling accusations at each other. They were shouting so much, we couldn't even understand what they were arguing about" YANNICK PACE THE president of the Nationalist Party's ex- ecutive committee Mark Anthony Sammut resigned from his post yesterday after what he described as a disastrous performance by the party in last week's local council and Eu- ropean Parliament elections. Sammut submitted his resignation at the start of a meeting of the executive commit- tee called to decide on who would be replac- ing David Stellini in parliament. In comments to the media following the media, Sammut insisted that the only way for the PN to move forward was for some- one else to lead the party. "I am not simply saying this, but am also acting on it. While I want to make it clear that I played no part in deciding the party's strategy or the manner in which it was im- plemented during the electoral campaign, and I was given the unanimous backing of the executive committee, I still feel that as part of this administration, I should shoul- der political responsibility," Sammut said. He appealed to "those have greater respon- sibilities than him" to follow in his footsteps and "allow the party to move on with seren- ity". "Each and every one of us, will be judged by history, on whether or not our decisions were in the interest of the Nationalist Party, and therefore in the interest of the country." Sammut felt that it was clear to him that the result breaks any mandate and any authority the PN administration had to lead this par- ty. "In the face of this lack of trust from the electorate, including a substantial portion that used to always vote for the Nationalist Party, whatever mandate we were given by our members, by the General Council or by the executive, is today irrelevant." Sammut was elected president of the com- mittee in November 2017. Sammut highlighted the fact that Satur- days elections was the first time the PN had failed to retain its core vote, amounting to at least 40% of the electorate; that for the first time since 1951, the PN's vote tally fell be- low 37% of the electorate; and that for the first time since WWII, the vote margin be- tween the two parties grew to 16% and 18% if one considered the local council elections. "The surveys were right. If one views the results in terms of a general election turn- out, the difference would have been of more than 55,000 votes," he said. Sammut said the party was insulting its voters' and activists' intelligence by trying to portray this result was some sort of suc- cess, and by stating that its core had been strengthened. "For the first time in 60 years, our core, which was always consolidated, has been fractured." "It's an insult to all the work by our activ- ists and candidates that we are almost cel- ebrating being the second largest party in Malta," he continued. "We have to stop bur- ying our heads in the sand and stop trying to take people for a ride. "This result was disastrous... The party is sinking, and with it, democracy in our country. The responsibility we have on our shoulders is very big, and therefore this is the moment where drastic decisions should be taken." Another resignation: 'PN's worst result ever means responsibility has to be carried' Mark Anthony Sammut