The Nationalist party was going for the MEP elections as the "underdog" and a work in progress, the party's general secretary said adding that "the tougher the conditions, the greater our determination to work hard".

Speaking during the opening of the PN general council, Clyde Puli encouraged people not to lose heart. 

The party faced tough challenges, working against a government that "used fake news" and was not afraid of character assassination, he said.

Mr Puli said that had it not been for the PN's media, only the governments voice would be heard.

"Our message is often distorted," he noted. The party spoke on things that affected the country, but the message was not reaching people, he warned.

We will not shut down the party's media, despite insistence to do so, he said.

Reflecting on his first year as secretary general, Mr Puli said 2018 was the year the party designed a future for itself. It reformed its finances to gain financial sustainability which would guarantee that the party could focus on its work.

The party saw the highest number of paid-up members in 13 years last year, raising €1.5 million in the process, Mr Puli said.

During 2018, it worked to defend workers, pensioners and consumers. It also exposed the risks associated with a new electronic voting system. The Nationalist party had sounded warnings on a voting system set to be used for the MEP elections, saying it could be used for the "buying of votes".

"We were preparing for electronic counting, we exposed the risk of fraud in the process," Mr Puli said. "We will not let anyone buy votes and get away with it," he added.

The Nationalist party also went on to take the government to court on key issues such as the Vitals deal and the Egrant inquiry, he added.

Opposition leader Adrian Delia had filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the Attorney General, Malta Industrial Parks and Vitals Global Healthcare calling for Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo hospitals to be returned to the people because contract conditions had not been respected.

Dr Delia took responsibility for the case, adding that Vitals could file a counter-claim.

The opposition leader had also filed a court case requesting access to a full copy of the Egrant inquiry since only the conclusions of the inquiry were made public, putting the Opposition at a disadvantage.

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