The Nationalist Party was slowly regaining the people's trust and should be encouraged by the recent council election results which saw it make inroads in Labour strongholds, deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said this evening. 

Addressing the opening session of the party's general conference at its headquarters in Pieta, Dr Fenech Adami said the last two years had been characterised by difficult decisions as the party was reeling from the landslide defeat in the last general elections. 

During this period the PN underwent a major overhaul both in its commercial entities and on a political level. The biggest challenge was to make the party more inclusive especially with sectors of society that no longer felt at home in the PN. The party also made big efforts to listen and be closer to the people.

"This work was not in vain as last month the PN scored big successes in the local elections which saw thousands of Labour voters express support with the party in Opposition," he said. 

Dr Fenech Adami added that this had created panic in Labour circles as they had thought the PN was no longer in business.

Touching on the controversy regarding the proposed campus outside a development zone in Marsascala, the PN deputy leader said the government had managed to create a movement against it, including Labour MPs. He also lashed out at the Prime Minister saying he tried to deceive the people by disguising a real estate project from Jordanian investors as an American University.

He pointed out that in its first two years in government the PL had only managed to finish a long list of major projects embarked upon by the previous PN administration, but failed to deliver on its major pledge to construct a new power station.