Simon Busuttil has submitted his nomination for the leadership of the Nationalist Party.

He presented the nomination to PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier in the presence of members of the PN national council who nominated him.

“I have decided to contest the election for leader of the party because I believe that we are capable of taking the challenges that lie before us and turn them into opportunities. And I want to do my part to make this happen,” Dr Busuttil said.

“On the 9th March the people not only voted Labour into Government but they also voted us into Opposition. This means we need to give them a strong Opposition that is able to scrutinize the work of the Government and offer a viable alternative to lead this country when the people call on us to do so.” 

“We need to rebuild a party that is fresh, organised, dynamic, in-touch with the people’s needs and ready to continually engage with them.” 

“What may have worked 10 or 20 years ago does not necessarily work today. We need to acknowledge that reality and use it as an opportunity to reform and renew the party from the bottom up,” Dr Busuttil said.

He is to hold a press conference tomorrow to announce his programme and intentions.

He also gave his views in an opinion piece in The Times today - See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130403/local/busuttil-pn-must-renew-itself-in-way-that-reflects-the-times.463938