Nationalist Party secretary general Chris Said yesterday asked forgiveness from those who may have been hurt as a result of internal restructuring these past two years.

Addressing the PN general council for the last time as general secretary, Dr Said asked councillors to remember him for the hard decisions he had to take and not for the people he may have hurt in the process.

Elected to the post two years ago, Dr Said was responsible for reorganising the party structure, including its commercial entities, as it strained under the weight of severe financial problems. During his term nearly half the work force was made redundant.

“I spent countless sleepless nights to find solutions that hurt the least but all my decisions were taken to ensure the party continued functioning, continued regenerating itself and nothing else,” he said to resounding applause.

Dr Said then asked those he may have hurt by his decisions to forgive him.

The outgoing secretary general said in two years the party’s finances were put on a sure footing: “The media outlets are not losing money, employee wages are being paid on time but more important we also regenerated the party and will continue to do so.”

The post of general secretary is up for grabs on June 3 but Dr Said will not seek re-election after PN leader Simon Busuttil asked him to focus on Gozo in the wake of the Giovanna Debono debacle and a string of bad electoral results for the party in the sister island.

In a crescendo that earned him a standing ovation, Dr Said noted that the PN had cut its electoral deficit with Labour by half in local elections last month.

This was encouraging, he said, but cautioned that his successor still had the second half of the road to travel. “The new general secretary has to be close to the party roots but has to reach out to those who left the party or never voted for the PN,” he said, pledging his full support.

Dr Said insisted the future had to be based on the politics of honesty as a reaction to the government’s departure from its promise to champion meritocracy and transparency.

PN MEP David Casa ruled out contesting the post of general secretary, as had been rumoured until a few weeks ago, and pledged his support to whoever is elected by the PN executive.