Jason Micallef has announced that he will contest the race for the post of Labour Party deputy leader for party affairs.
In a Facebook post on Friday morning, Micallef said several PL delegates had encouraged him to run for the role, but it was not an easy decision to come to.
He said the announcement was preceded by long conversations with several party officials, including Prime Minister Robert Abela.
“From all of these meetings I understood that, in the present situation and with the experience I gathered during several years in the leadership of several party structures, as well as other experiences of leadership in national projects, I can help the renewal that the Labour Party needs right now,” Micallef said.
He added his next step is to listen to what delegates have to say about the matter, stressing the need for unity.
“The renewal that the party needs right now needs to be achieved by working hand in hand together, from the roots. Because we have always been here together, in the good and the bad, in fair and stormy weather, with genuine love for our glorious party,” Micallef said.
Micallef, who currently sits as the chair of the Valletta Cultural Agency, and who served as Labour general secretary under Alfred Sant, previously told Times of Malta he had been seriously considering contesting for the role.
He said the party needed to work on its “coherence and energy” following the result of June’s European parliament elections, this following an uptick in Micallef being publicly critical of the way the party has handled certain affairs.
The Labour Party will be holding its general conference between September 13 and 15, during which it will elect a new administration, including replacements for Chris Fearne and Daniel Micallef, the latter of which Micallef hopes to succeed.
While insiders believe foreign minister Ian Borg is poised to be the front-runner in the race for Labour’s deputy leader, there were previously no clear contenders for the party affairs deputy leader role, although sources named former MEP Josianne Cutajar as a possibility.