Former Justice Minister Chris Said said today he will be contesting the post of leader of the Nationalist Party.

Dr Said, 46, told the Times of Malta that he wanted to make the Nationalist Party a strong and relevant political force, a formidable Opposition and a credible government in waiting.

He is the second person to make public his intentions to contest the post after Birkirkara football club president Adrian Delia declared his last weekend.

Read: Birkirkara lawyer Adrian Delia to bid for the PN leadership

Dr Said started his political career as a member of the Nadur council, becoming mayor in 1999, a post he held until 2008 when he was elected to Parliament for the first time.

In 2009, he became parliamentary secretary within the Office of the Prime Minister and was in 2012 promoted to Minister for Justice and Social Policy, a post he held until 2013.

That same year, he became secretary general of the Nationalist Party ending the party’s serious financial haemorrhage and reorganising and rejuvenating its structures.

The eldest among 13 siblings and the son of a self-employed, Dr Said credits his family for instilling in him the right values for a life in politics.

“Being the eldest of 13 means that you have to quickly learn how to compromise, how to reach out, how to bring out the best in others, how to meet others half way, how to negotiate for whatever you need, how to let – at times – bygones be bygones.”

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