During the last electoral campaign the Nationalist Party launched a digital campaign called mychoice.pn. The aims were multifold, with a brand new website to guide us through the campaign but especially providing the facility for the public to log on and register their ideas, suggestions, aspirations and complaints.
With Busuttil at the helm, the Nationalist Party can indeed take stock, rebuild and move on to win the next general election
I am reliably informed that the feedback to this call for public opinion was unprecedented as people logged on to air their views. Far from the argument of whether the feedback was positively constructive or simply negative, it is glaringly obvious that such an initiative exposed a craving to be close to the party. Some might argue whether this was a case of too little too late as the weeks of the campaign flew by, barely giving the party time to address the most prominent issues.
As the party councillors gear up to choose the new PN leader in a few days’ time, these very same thoughts are being revisited during the several discussion meetings that the candidates for this post are organising in the various localities.
I am particularly impressed by Simon Busuttil’s electoral programme for this campaign. Based on five fundamental pillars, Busuttil seems to have culled the best ideas after heeding what the party councillors, activists and the general public had to say during the last general election campaign.
Studying these five pillars, one gets the impression that they could have been effortlessly implemented. However, the fact of the matter is that you simply could not run government with such a degree of success and maintain that level of excellence within the party as well.
Busuttil is committing himself to renewing the PN by ensuring that this will be a party with clear fundamentals and guidelines, by promising to re-organise the party internal structures, by maintaining a close relationship with the people, by offering a strong and constructive Opposition in Parliament and by committing himself to lead a party that will continue offering solutions to our country’s challenges.
Quite a shopping list if you ask me but having seen him in action in the run up to Malta’s accession to the EU, during his tenure as a Member of the European Parliament and during his very short stint as PN deputy leader, I am more than convinced that not only is he the right man for the job but given the chance, he will actually deliver on these pledges.
Being a true leader requires a multitude of skills and I am satisfied that with Busuttil at the helm, the Nationalist Party can indeed take stock, rebuild and move on to win the next general election. We have just witnessed the Labour Party do exactly that – we can match this and more!
With Busuttil leading the PN, this party will move on to win back voters, attract new voters, formulate fresh, exciting policies and look forward to establishing stronger representation in the European Parliament, in local councils and eventually in government.
This is my choice for my party and I am proud to declare it. I am confident that in the coming day councillors will as always be weighing the right options and considering what is best for the party. I am also confident that as always they will be making the right choices for our party. This is not only an exciting time for us but one of immense responsibility.
Fresh from an electoral defeat, the choice of a PN leader should rest on the best candidate to regenerate the party, to win back public opinion, to confront the party in government and to lead us to our next electoral victory as soon as possible. Simon Busuttil ticks all the right boxes!
info@carolinegalea.com
Caroline Galea is an elected member of the PN Executive Committee.