Marlene Farrugia’s Facebook post lifting the lid on a coalition agreement with the Nationalist Party has left many PN functionaries fuming, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
Sources said top PN officials and the parliamentary group were unaware that an agreement had been reached to field Democratic Party candidates on the PN ticket.
“Although it was public knowledge that talks between Simon Busuttil and Marlene Farrugia were being held, no mention of this deal was made at the parliamentary group meeting held earlier in the week,” the sources said.
The move has also angered PN candidates on the Fifth electoral district where Dr Farrugia has strong roots in the community.
But Dr Busuttil’s spokesman yesterday insisted “there was no announcement yet”, reiterating that talks were at an advanced stage. He skirted the question as to whether the parliamentary group and the party executive had been informed of the arrangement.
“Talks have been held since Simon Busuttil launched a call during last year’s Independence Day speech for a coalition of people of goodwill to rally together to overcome the most corrupt government in the country’s history,” the spokes-man said.
He added that the matter would go through the “internal party structures as happens with the approval of new party candidates”.
Asked whether the PN leader was aware of the concern among the party’s rank and file over the coalition, the spokesman said the “coming together of PN and PD represents an exciting opportunity to give the Maltese people an alternative government”.
Dr Farrugia, who heads the Democratic Party, posted a cryptic message on her Facebook wall last Friday, 24 hours after meeting Dr Busuttil at PN headquarters.
She later confirmed that PD candidates had agreed to run under the PN flag and possibly be described as “tal-orange” on the voting document.
In a comment beneath her Facebook post, Dr Farrugia added that the Democratic Party could “teach him [Busuttil] anything he doesn’t yet know”, while expressing confidence in the coalition’s ability to dethrone the Labour government.
But the condescending tone did not go down too well with PN functionaries sceptical of a coalition deal, the sources said.
In the wake of Thursday’s meeting the PN had released a photo of the two in Dr Busuttil’s office and a statement saying talks were at an advanced stage.
Dr Busuttil’s spokesman said Dr Farrugia was just one of many people turning to the PN after being betrayed by Joseph Muscat.
He added that the PN had a number of candidates who, in the last election, voted and endorsed Dr Muscat but who now wanted to ensure Malta got “a government it truly deserves”.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com