In spite of saying the truth, the Nationalist Party currently lacks credibility, which it is working to win back, party leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.
He said when interviewed on RTK Radio that he considered resigning following the Nationalist Party’s poor showing in last week’s European Parliament election, but said this would have been the easy way out.
“This was the easiest option for me. I would have regained my personal, family and professional life… even my financial life... But am I here to take the easiest option or to shoulder responsibility? Last year I decided to dedicate myself to the party both during the difficult and the good moments. Last week I had a difficult moment and it will strengthen me to continue working for the party,” he said.
Dr Busuttil said he did not expect people to vote for him or the PN because he asked them to.
“I only want them to give me the chance to regain their respect and credibility.”
Dr Busuttil spoke about his disappointment when he started receiving the sample results. At the same time he understood that the PN was being tested after just one year of massively losing to Labour in a national election.
Dr Busuttil said that the PN’s biggest disappointment was its result in Gozo. The PN used to be the natural home for Gozitans and he said he would personally be going in the details of what led the party to lose the district by 1,000 votes.
“I am disappointed and hurt with this result but it strengthens my determination.”
Dr Busuttil was consoled by the fact, however, that from a very difficult situation, the PN at least managed to achieve its only aim, that of electing the third seat. “This gave us new hope,” he said.
His aim, Dr Busuttil said was for the PN to again become the natural home of the people.
“This cannot be done in a year but over a number of years and if I am allowed to implement my plan I will get there,” he said.
The PN had to reinvent itself, change radically and show that it had taken the message it was given in the last election. It had to make the people believe they could once again trust the party.
"We have already laid the foundations for the changes to come," he said.
He expressed concern at the number of votes obtained by Imperium Europa, and criticised what he described as a number of “disgusting declarations” including on disabled children by the group’s leader Norman Lowell.
On the other hand, he had words of praise for Alternattiva Demokratika which he said deserved better results.
AD, Dr Busuttil said, had a number of valid people and proposals, which even the PN could learn from.
Dr Busuttil was asked about what it meant to be a party leader and a single father.
He said that the hurt of last Saturday’s result was nothing compared to what he had already been through in his life.
However, he was happy with his personal life and had the best kind of relationship with his son who lived with him. Being a single dad meant that he had to cook for his son, wash his clothes and prepare his lunch, among many other things. This was not easy but he tried to do his best.