Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca speaks to Ariadne Massa about her initial shock at being asked to become Malta’s ninth President and dismisses theories she was booted upstairs for being conservative – a label she shuns.

Being handpicked to become the next head of State is normally an honour, but for the most popular Cabinet minister it was a blow she did not see coming.

“My first reaction was shock. It wasn’t something I was expecting or aspiring for,” she says, her voice cracking, momentarily exposing her internal battle to warm up to her new position.

A woman who is driven by her passionate nature, the 55-year-old Social Solidarity Minister admits she shed more than a tear after leaving the Prime Minister’s office last month.

Did she feel she was being coerced into accepting the position, seeing she could not exactly rebuff Joseph Muscat’s offer?

“Don’t worry, I had already turned it down,” she quips.

See excerpts from the interview on video above. Full interview in The Sunday Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.