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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 MAY 2017 3 News PN to field Josie Muscat after 30-year absence Farrugia for PN-PD ticket? PAUL COCKS THE far-right, former Nationalist MP turned businessman Josie Mus- cat will be contesting the upcoming election in the second district on the PN ticket, having had his candi- dature approved by the party. The 74-year-old PN hardliner, who hails from the Labour-domi- nated south, had formed the Front Freedom Fighters after the 1981 election when Labour was re-elect- ed with a majority of seats but not a majority of votes. The FFF was a fascist-sympa- thising grouping at the margins of the Nationalist Party, suspected of having received funds by anti- communist entities close to the CIA. The political circumstances of the time led Muscat towards a self-styled leadership of the extra- parliamentary grouping of Nation- alist militants, that formed an active resistance against the Labour gov- ernment of the day. The Front Freedom Fighters had its own publication, Ir-Rieda, full of right-wing language, which had been deemed unacceptable to the Nationalist Party at the time. In 1983, the PN distanced itself from Ir-Rieda, and even barred party members from any association with the grouping. After falling out with PN leader Eddie Fenech Adami over consti- tutional reform talks with former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mint- off, Muscat did not contest the 1987 election. He went on to build a successful medical business, particularly in the treatment of infertility through ar- tificial reproductive treatment. He is currently chairman of St James Hospital. After a short stint as an inde- pendent councillor in Marsaskala, Muscat founded the right-wing and conservative party Azzjoni Nazzjonali. Muscat stood down as leader of Azzjoni Nazzjonali after the party got 0.5% of the vote and failed to elect any MP in the 2008 elections. In 2012, Muscat was embroiled in a controversy after claiming that beaten women often goaded their aggressors into violence. His provocative comments sparked an angry backlash with a number of NGOs accusing him of justifying domestic violence. Yesterday the PN also approved the candidature of MEP Theresa Comodini Cachia who will contest the fourth and eight districts while TV presenter Norman Vella will be running on the fifth and eighth districts. CONINTUED FROM PAGE 1 It is unlikely that both would contest the seventh district but the PN list is thin on heavyweight candidates there. Last week, Farrugia announced that he would not be contesting the next general election on the Labour Party ticket. In a Facebook post, Farrugia said that he had de- cided not to contest the election because he no longer felt he belonged in "what is calling itself the Labour Party". This came after his resignation as the Labour Party's Whip in the wake of the reports the previous week that the Prime Minister's wife owns an offshore Panama com- pany. In a strongly worded open letter to Joseph Muscat, the Zebbug family doctor said that the allegations hurt him because he treasures his country. "I deliberated this decision at length, I even had some sleepless nights, and I remembered the first speeches I had given in Parliament," he wrote. "I voted as a Whip, even when I was asked to vote against my own conscience. "The public's faith in a historic Labourite ideal should never have been betrayed and used to advance the agenda of a few people, who clearly don't have the national inter- est at heart, let alone in their minds." Farrugia was appointed health minister upon Labour's election in 2013, but stepped down a year later and was replaced by Konrad Mizzi. He was appointed Whip of the Labour Party's parliamentary group in 2015. Farrugia, who served as an independent mayor of Zeb- bug in the 1990s, is a firework and festa enthusiast who enjoys respect across party lines. He is a popular family doctor and was elected on the seventh electoral district after drawing 2,089 first count votes. Josie Muscat, returning to the hustings The Front Freedom Fighters' publication was full of right- wing language which was unacceptable to the PN Franco Debono won't contest general elections FORMER Nationalist MP Franco Debono has declared he will not to stand for the June general elections, af- ter the criminal defence lawyer mooted a possible run for parliament. "I am focusing on my profession, but yes I am observing what is happening," Debono, 42, said, who has previously stated on Facebook that supporters had augured seeing him consider a Labour candidature. Debono was appointed Commission- er for Laws upon the election to power of Labour in 2013, after the MP effec- tively brought the Gonzi administration down when he voted against the Budget Measures Implementation Bill of De- cember 2012. Debono had broken ranks with the PN administration, which had been elected in 2008 with just a one- seat majority. As an MP he relentlessly criticised the Gonzi administration for its track re- cord on justice reform, and after 2013 – where he was tasked to preside a consti- tutional reform commission that never picked up steam – he openly criticised the Opposition and took a stand in fa- vour of the Muscat administration. Debono was elected in 2008 on the fifth district, which includes his home- town of Hal Ghaxaq. His convincing vote count was substantial enough to knock out PN heavyweight and former education minister Louis Galea from the House. But soon Debono grew rest- less in the face of what he perceived to be a disregard for PN backbenchers by the party's leadership, and for his pro- posed justice and party financing re- forms. Debono said last year he would con- sider standing for Labour on the fifth district. "I respect the PN but I have no intention of serving as a candidate with the PN," he said in 2016. Franco Debono, focusing on his profession