The Nationalist Party executive committee has put off a meeting to discuss whether to reverse its decision to block rebel MP Franco Debono from contesting the general election on the party ticket.
“Basically, there is a push to let the waters calm down before we take a final decision on the matter,” party sources said yesterday.
The executive was set to meet on Thursday to consider Dr Debono’s request to lift the ban but then cancelled it after the MP himself said he could not make it. A fresh date has not been set and, according to the party sources, there is no immediate plan to schedule it.
Dr Debono had been condemned, along with fellow backbenchers Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Jesmond Mugliett, for not following the government’s Whip directions.
But the Għaxaq MP rejected this, insisting he was not even given an opportunity to defend himself and asked the executive to reconsider and annul the decision.
When contacted, a party spokesman insisted that there was nothing extraordinary about the fact that no date had been set yet.
“The decision by the PN Executive to postpone the discussion on the request made by Dr Debono to reconsider the motion of condemnation for voting against the party whip is based only on the fact that he was unable to attend the meeting,” the spokesman said.
“The PN executive accepted his request and the matter will be brought up in another meeting that will be determined by the administrative council,” he added.
However, there appears to be no single, unified train of thought in the party.
One party source said there was clearly a movement to rehabilitate Dr Debono in some way but a high level source said that a reversal of the executive’s decision was highly unlikely.
Repeated attempts to contact the MP yesterday proved unsuccessful.
Delaying the meeting discussing Dr Debono could help stabilise the political scenario after the turbulence caused by the resignation of Dr Pullicino Orlando from the Nationalist Party last week.
After he helped Labour oust former EU envoy Richard Cachia Caruana from his job and later tried, unsuccessfully, to have him expelled from the party, Dr Pullicino Orlando declared himself an independent MP in coalition with the government.
He demanded to be consulted on legislation that does not form part of the electoral manifesto and indicated that the introduction of the controversial in-vitro fertilisation and cohabitation Bills would be red lines upon which his support was conditional.
However, the party appears to have overcome the first hurdle with the publication of a draft IVF Bill that Dr Pullicino “by and large” supports.