Democratic Party leader Marlene Farrugia has joined other PN MPs who are calling on Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to reconsider his resignation.
Dr Busuttil last week announced his intention to step down and not re-contest the leadership post.
Contacted by The Sunday Times of Malta, Dr Farrugia said Dr Busuttil had fixed the PN, which was in a shambles when he took over.
She said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had used his power of incumbency to engage in “corrupt practices” to acquire more support.
Dr Farrugia said the bottom line was that given more time, Dr Busuttil could win by doing more work on the ground.
“Having said that, whether Simon Busuttil decides to go or stay, the PN’s leadership should include a woman leader. Marthese Portelli fits the bill perfectly,” Dr Farrugia said.
A number of PN MPs have also expressed their wish for Dr Busuttil to stay on.
Veteran MP Robert Arrigo, who was elected in two districts, said Dr Busuttil’s leadership of the PN was always going to be longer than a four-year project.
He called it positive that the PN needed tweaking and implored people to look at the bigger picture.
Claudette Buttigieg, who was elected on the PN ticket for the first time in 2013, said that Dr Busuttil had made it cool to be a Nationalist again.
“I don’t think he should be leaving his position, but he seems determined to do so,” Ms Buttigieg wrote in her column in The Malta Independent.
Newly elected MP Jean Pierre Debono, who served as the PN’s deputy secretary general, posted on Facebook that Dr Busuttil must stay on as PN leader.
Mr Debono’s post was shared by PN MP Jason Azzopardi, who held the justice portfolio in Dr Busuttil’s shadow Cabinet. Contacted by this newspaper, Dr Azzopardi said that he would respect Dr Busuttil’s decision either way.
“I have blind trust in Dr Busuttil. I trust his judgement,” Dr Azzopardi said.
Mark Anthony Sammut, who narrowly missed out on a seat in the hotly contested fourth district, said he would back whatever decision Dr Busuttil took and whoever became PN leader.
The young engineer, who is being mentioned as one of the persons who should take on a more prominent role in the party, said the PN needed radical changes from the bottom up, not a simple facelift.
“We have to shed the perception that we are just a party of lawyers and dynasties, and speak the language of the common man, and make sure our message reaches the average voter,” Mr Sammut told The Sunday Times of Malta.