Joseph Muscat’s decision to put a divisive figure at the helm of constitutional reform could make the process a non-starter, Nationalist Party leadership contender Simon Busuttil warned yesterday.

The election result could have been worse

One of the Prime Minister’s worst decisions so far was appointing former Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono to a role requiring widespread consensus, Dr Busuttil said yesterday.

“I want to believe that Dr Muscat is still genuinely open to constitutional reform,” he told reporters during an informal question and answer session at The Times newsroom in Valletta.

Asked if he would boycott the Constitutional Convention, which will be coordinated by Dr Debono, Dr Busuttil said the new PN leader must assess the situation and hold discussions with the Government to agree on a way forward.

However, he warned that putting a divisive figure at the helm could “spell the end” of such reform.

“I do not want to close the door on this because this is really big and really important,” he said.

Along with Mario de Marco, Francis Zammit Dimech and Ray Bugeja, Dr Busuttil will be vying for the post to be vacated by Lawrence Gonzi on May 4.

Dr Busuttil promised that as PN leader he would be “extremely hard” when necessary but would also be constructive, unlike the Opposition led by Dr Muscat, which remained silent until the election campaign.

Asked whether being appointed to the deputy leader post in November had made an impact, considering the heavy March 9 election defeat, Dr Busuttil said he believed the election result “could have been worse” for the PN and his participation left a “positive impact”.

“I got almost 15,000 votes,” he said, which was more than any candidate after the Prime Minister.

Dr Busuttil said he did not enjoy putting it “so bluntly” but the PN saw polls that were even worse than the ultimate 12 point difference between the two parties.

“There were times when we were 14 or 15 points behind,” he said, adding he believed he made a positive impact during his three-month stint as deputy leader.

“People wanted change. After 25 years it is not unusual to vote for change for the sake of change – even if we were perfect,” he said, when asked for his analysis of the electoral defeat.

He also mentioned as “mistakes” the honoraria saga, the internal dissent in the party, the handling of water and electricity tariff increases, the public transport reform and the PN’s aloofness from the people.

Dr Busuttil said that, although he was elected as deputy leader on a platform for change, he found the election campaign’s “script” was already written and being implemented.

“I should not be judged as the leader of the campaign. I was the deputy leader. I was number two.

“The script was written and I followed the script. I followed it loyally,” he said, pointing out that the real leaders of the campaign were well known to all.

He said he should be judged on areas in which he actually contributed, namely the electoral programme, which included proposals that “no one would have ever dreamt would be proposed by the PN”.

Dr Busuttil said he should also be judged on his performances during the televised debates with Anġlu Farrugia, Louis Grech and Toni Abela.

He said he was portrayed as divisive during the campaign and this dented the image he had built during his term as MEP.

“The real Simon is Simon the MEP,” he said, admitting he felt more at home in the European Parliament.

Asked who the liberal councillors should vote for, Dr Busuttil said they were all “singing from the same sheet” on major social issues.

Questioned about why the PN did not change in the past five years, Dr Busuttil said Dr Gonzi was elected PN leader and immediately became Prime Minister, putting his role as party leader “on the backburner”. Now, the leader had time to focus on the party, he said.

Despite being a practising Catholic, Dr Busuttil stressed that the PN was not a confessional party and should go back to being an umbrella party that unites liberals and conservatives, who ultimately could not live without each other.

He refused to say whether he believed the Religio et Patria (religion and fatherland) slogan associated with his party was dead.

He said the PN made strides after the divorce referendum and had even gone further than Labour on gay rights in the campaign, even though it was not believed.

Dr Busuttil said he hoped with him as party leader, the PN would manage to win a third seat at the European Parliament for the first time in next year’s election.

However, his first move would be to set up a team of experts to make recommendations to improve the PN’s dire financial situation.

Asked about claims of the PN being a clique, Dr Busuttil said he was “shocked” when almost the entire Cabinet aligned itself publicly in favour of the other contender for deputy leader.

“I suddenly felt completely alone,” he said, promising not to do the same to others.