The Labour Party wants a PN leader who is on the back foot defending his own past, Chris Said said this morning.
"Labour does not want me to be leader because they know they can't touch my integrity, it is there for all to see," the Pn leadership contender said.
Addressing a press conference outside Parliament, Dr Said the new PN leader had to be 100 per cent focused on the party.
His opponent Adrian Delia has been at the center of controversy, fending off allegations that he had received money off the back of a London-based prostitution racket. He has strongly denied the claims.
Dr Said took another dig at Dr Delia this morning, saying that while he had stood with the party through thick and thin, his opponent had shied away.
"When times got tough there were those who stayed and those who hid away and wanted their own adventure," he said.
Politics, Dr Said said, was a service not a personal adventure.
The Gozitan MP said that although the party's councillors had voted him as runner up in the first round of the contest on Saturday, he felt the 21,500 party members were a wider group that wanted a man of integrity.
"There are thousands of party members at home that don't take to Facebook to express themselves, that don't endorse candidates. These are people who want someone who represents them, who won't make the party a photocopy of Labour and who is proven," he said.
Dr Said said there was pressure to be like Labour and to move with the current after two electoral defeats.
With me as leader the party won't let go of what it believes in and flow with the current
"I want to be clear. With me as leader the party won't let go of what it believes in and flow with the current ," he said.
The history of all parties, Dr Said said, included turbulent chapters.
He wanted to bring about change, as two electoral defeats of this magnitude left the party with no choice.
This, he said, would dictate the future of the the country, not just the party.
"There is a tougher road to take but it is the one that leads to victory," he said.
"The right way" was the way, he said he wanted to lead.
He insisted that he would not shy away from reaffirming what the PN believes in, what it stands for, and who it represents.
“This will earn us the respect of even those who do not agree with us, because everyone will know where we stand.”
“The moment we give up what makes us Nationalists will see the start of the road to collapse. That would be the beginning of the end of the PN.”
Dr Said underscored his service in parliament since 2008 and said he was offering a strong, constructive opposition which came up with its own proposals for a better quality of life for the people, while keeping the government in check.