Marlene Farrugia, the leader of the Democratic Party is the legacy bequeathed to the Nationalist Party by Simon Busuttil.
Unless Dr Busuttil’s successor is strong enough to reject this legacy, rest assured that Dr Farrugia will hang like an albatross round the new leader’s neck for the next five years.
Dr Farrugia has already proven what she is capable of during the last legislature.
Even when the official agreement setting up the PN-PD coalition was announced, she humiliated Dr Busuttil by saying: “We (meaning she) will teach him what he does not know”.
Now, just minutes after her election to Parliament Dr Farrugia not only made derogatory comments about former PN stalwarts in the 10th district, but has demanded that she should be involved in the election of the new PN leader, when she is not even a member of the PN!
Many will be watching to see what the new leader of the PN will be doing about the two most urgent problems facing the new leadership – the perennial one of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the new problem created by Dr Busuttil, namely Marlene Farrugia.