The Labour party’s former secretary-general Jason Micallef is not ruling out the possibility that he will stand for the general elections, MaltaToday was told.
Micallef, who resigned his post earlier this year and then appointed chairman of One TV, spoke to this newspaper after reports that he was in preparations for his electoral campaign.
“If I do stand for national elections, it will be in Mosta, my hometown,” Micallef said.
Micallef was elected secretary-general soon after the 2003 general elections, which Labour lost and which saw Alfred Sant re-elected party leader in a three-horse race.
He was re-elected after the 2008 general election loss, but reports of bad relations between him and James Piscopo, the party chief executive appointed by Joseph Muscat, led to much bad press.
If Micallef goes ahead with his candidature, he will have to be confirmed by the Labour party structures, and is expected to face Labour heavyweight Anglu Farrugia, the deputy leader of the party, within the same district.
Micallef was also a local councillor for Mosta for ten years from 1994 to 2004, and is the nephew of former Labour minister Freddie Micallef.
Micallef replaced Jimmy Magro as secretary-general and became instrumental in supporting Alfred Sant during his last years as leader. His media-savviness gave Labour an edge which it did not have with Magro, but Micallef was also the author of many controversial statements and was reportedly at loggerheads with Michael Falzon, the former deputy leader.
Unlike Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, who is at present acting secretary-general until the upcoming Labour general conference, Micallef received most of the blame for the last general election result. Zrinzo Azzopardi, who was party president at the time, seemingly managed to escape all blame.
After the 2008 result, Micallef protested on several occasions that the election campaign had been the work of the entire Labour team – a clear message to Joseph Muscat for treating Zrinzo Azzopardi with kid’s gloves.
Surviving the purge that took place after Sant announced his resignation, Micallef managed to garner enough votes from delegates to be re-elected as secretary-general, much to Muscat’s chagrin who had pushed Joe Vella Bonnici for the post.
Despite the good showing in the MEP elections, Micallef’s tenure was cut short by Joseph Muscat, who appointed James Piscopo as chief executive to take over the day-to-day running of the PL.
In spite of their past friendship, Muscat pushed Micallef out of the party due to his incompatibility with Piscopo.
In his ‘exile’ to One TV, Micallef still retains respect from several in the party, who consider Piscopo’s appointment and the appointment of former Nationalist diehard Marisa Micallef Leyson as an affront to the party’s democratic credentials.
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