Lawrence Gonzi’s plan to elect Charlò Bonnici as the new party’s secretary general was ditched unceremoniously on Friday by the PN executive who voted overwhelmingly for Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier.
With a roaring 68% or 41 votes against Bonnici’s mere 18 from among the executive’s exclusive voting base, Borg Olivier crushed the party machinery’s favourite, and the candidate much supported by the PN’s eminence grise, Richard Cachia Caruana.
The young lawyer’s election signals a veritable protest vote against the party’s internal manoeuvrings to keep a hold on the seat vacated by Joe Saliba.
Speaking to MaltaToday yesterday, Borg Olivier admitted hearing about a campaign working for Bonnici’s election.
“I don't think the party machine worked in anyone’s favour, although if I have to keep my feet on the ground. I did hear about this here and there, but I did not take any notice of it,” he said.
“I was not directly aware of any of the two being favoured by the party, and I did not see what the other contender was doing. Effectively, I think Charlò came in late. PN executive members are not easily influenced, this is how we work. We mostly work on a one-to-one level. In fact I did not even participate in TV programmes – you're working with 60 people in such cases.”
Although Saliba’s rule helped scraping the party to victory in the last general election, the former secretary general had helped alienate a good portion of Nationalists who could no longer identify with the party since Gonzi’s anointment as leader.
Among Saliba’s most criticised measures was the decision to pull out of the Zejtun and Marsa local elections in 2005, generating a wave of discontent within the party.
Yet he was always side by side with Gonzi as the party lost one local election after the other, and the European Parliament election in June 2004.
In last Friday’s election – criticised by many in view of its highly exclusive and restricted voting base – Borg Olivier managed to turn the tide against the former personal assistant to Louis Galea who was also Gonzi’s and Cachia Caruana’s chosen contender since Simon Busuttil turned down calls to contest.
The result has already sent shockwaves through the leadership, with Borg Olivier declaring Friday night that he wants the party to open itself up to criticism and instigating dialogue.
“We have to open up our party to whoever wants to do politics with us,” he said.
Cachia Caruana downplayed his support for Bonnici when contacted yesterday, but he did admit that the executive members rebelled against people telling them who to vote for.
“The PN doesn’t work in the way you think it does,” he replied when asked for his interpretation of the vote against his favourite. “There are no factions and therefore there are no winners and losers. Another thing about the PN is that its members rebel against people telling them ‘who’ and ‘who not’ to vote for. So I was certainly not a 'force' for either of the two candidates.”
In contrast, Borg Olivier said “I do not make any such considerations” when asked about the idea of voters rebelling against the chosen ones.
Cachia Caruana added: “The individual I personally pushed for the Secretary General post – and it’s the individual I pushed not my fellow PN Executive members – was Simon Busuttil, but he decided not to stand. In fact, the last person I actively campaigned for in a PN election was Guido de Marco in 1977. While both Paul and Charlò ran strong campaigns, it appears that Paul’s decision not to stand for Parliament if elected struck a chord with the Executive members. Like the rest of the PN Executive, I am proud to be a colleague of both of them. Paul has very clear ideas as to how to reform the party and I look forward to helping him where I can.”
Nationalist party whip David Agius however did hint that Borg Olivier together with the other newly elected officials will have to get the party to close ranks.
“As a party official in the post of secretary of the PN Parliamentary Group and whip of the government side in Parliament, I will have to work closely with the new secretary-general to continue keeping this party a winning party as it has been in the past few general elections,” Agius said.
“This will not be an easy job in the next few months, however if all the new officials work together with the Sectional Committees and the party’s branches, we can make this party a winning one,” he said.
Asked about Cachia Caruana’s waning influence, Infrastructure Minister and former secretary general Austin Gatt said: “I’m the wrong person to ask. Ask Richard. I’m in Rome at the moment, I don’t know what happened exactly.”
Social policy minister John Dalli said the only person who contacted him to vote for Bonnici was the candidate himself.
“The fact of the matter is that nobody approached me personally to convince me to vote for Charlo' Bonnici,” he said.
Parliamentary Speaker Louis Galea said: “In my position (as speaker), I’m not in a position to comment.”