Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/846769
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 JULY 2017 2 News PAUL COCKS OPPOSITION leader Simon Busuttil, like Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, is nothing but a fake liberal and a totali- tarian, suppressing religion and the right to live according to one's beliefs, Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo has said of his leader. Vassallo has been branded a rebel and a dinosaur after voting against the Marriage Equality bill in the sec- ond reading in Parliament earlier this week, despite the PN saying it would be voting in favour and issuing a whip order to that effect, denying its MPs the right to vote as they felt. Vassallo was the only MP to vote against the bill's second reading and has consistently insisted that MPs should have a free vote in such mat- ters of conscience. A final vote will be taken on Wednes- day following the formal third reading of the bill. In the interim committee stage discussions, the government has refused to accede to any amendments proposed by the opposition. "With the decision to unilaterally support Muscat's bill, Busuttil is an accomplice in the suppression of reli- gion and religious freedom," Vassallo told MaltaToday. "My appeal to Bu- suttil is: Stop the oppression!" He said that by not allowing a free vote, Busuttil was denying people like him their right to freedom of expres- sion, as well as their freedom to prac- tise their religious beliefs. "As a Christian in politics today, I can no longer even say I am conserva- tive," he said. "Today, if I want to prac- tise my faith and still be in politics, I have to be a radical, because conserva- tive politics has now been replaced by fake liberalism." Vassallo said he was not alone in his thinking, and insisted that many MPs – across both parties – were afraid to stick their neck out. "All I want is to ensure justice is done, and that the voice of the many people who oppose the spirit of this deceiving bill is heard. So I call on Bu- suttil to stop the oppression!" Vassallo said that Muscat was the most dishonest politician ever, pre- senting the bill as gay marriage law when in fact there was so much more in the bill and so much more it could lead to. MIRIAM DALLI HE was part of the leadership team that saw the Nationalist Party losing for the second time to the Labour Party with 35,000 votes, but Beppe Fenech Adami is not disheartened. Along with leader Simon Busuttil, secretary gen- eral Rosette Thake, parliamentary affairs deputy leader Mario de Marco and executive president Ann Fenech, Fenech Adami announced that he would be resigning his position as deputy leader for party affairs, within hours of the humiliating loss. Informed sources have told MaltaToday that Fenech Adami was interested in contesting the role of deputy leader for parliamentary affairs – a rumour which Fenech Adami has not denied out- right. Contacted by MaltaToday, Fenech Adami would not deny interest in the role, insisting that "one never excludes anything in politics". He however categorically denied any interest in contesting for the leadership, to become Busuttil's successor. Sources have told MaltaToday that Fenech Ad- ami has started meeting councillors, although he has denied this. The PN will be selecting its new leader in Sep- tember, after which preparations will kick off for the elections of the deputy leaders and posts with- in the party's administration. Fenech Adami, son of former PN prime minis- ter Eddie Fenech Adami, insisted that there's still a while to go for the deputy leadership election to take place. "We will see when the time comes," he replied, when asked to rule out interest in the deputy lead- ership role for parliamentary affairs. Fenech Adami said that it was for certain that he would remain active within the party. On 4 June, 2017, Fenech Adami, flanked by de Marco, conceded defeat, telling the press in the counting hall that the party must now analyse the damning electoral result and look forward. "We must analyse the result and look to the fu- ture, so that the Nationalist Party can continue to progress," he told reporters inside the counting hall. mdalli@mediatoday.com.mt 'Stop The Debono power couple: both Kristy Debono and husband Jean-Pierre (left), the outgoing assistant secretary-general of the PN, were elected to the House Fenech Adami in possible run for deputy leader