What it’s like being a PN politician in a Labour Party stronghold

Michael Piccinino is one of two Nationalist Party MPs elected on the fourth district, a Labour stronghold.

For years, the PL had managed to win four out of the district’s five seats but in the last general election the PN clinched a second seat, which was won by Piccinino, a former party general secretary.

In May’s election, however, Labour won 64 per cent of the vote in the district, which includes Paola, Tarxien, Santa Luċija and most of Fgura.

Asked what it is like to run on a district that is strongly supportive of the Labour Party, Piccinino, who is from Paola, said the experience gave him "a broad overview" of the country. 

“As a politician, you know what you stand for but growing up in a locality where everyone supports the other party, the PL, means that you understand the perspective of others,” he said. “Growing up in that sort of environment helps you to grow both as a person and a politician.” 

Piccinino said he passes by the Labour Party club twice a day when walking his dog.

“Almost every morning, I have a conversation with the people who are sitting there, and with those conversations you learn why other people have different opinions. I think that is something that helps you as a politician,” he said.

Piccinino announced he was stepping down from his role as PN general secretary in September 2024 in order to contest the general election.

Karl Gouder had announced his intention to succeed him and appeared all set to take over. However, Gouder died suddenly, delaying the transition until March 2025, when Charles Bonello was elected to the role, allowing Piccinino to step down.

Piccinino said he started campaigning as soon as he stopped being general secretary.

“I wanted to have the opportunity to knock on doors, not just capitalise on the fact that I was general secretary.”

The PN statute does not forbid a general secretary from also being an MP. In fact, some of Piccinino’s predecessors, including Chris Said and Clyde Puli, held both roles at the same time.

The two, however, took up the general secretary mantle after being elected as MPs.

'If you have a role, concentrate on it'

For Piccinino, contesting the election and holding one of the PN’s most senior positions could not coexist, and so he resigned in order to become a candidate and, eventually, an MP.

“Even though the statute allows you to do the two things at the same time, I believe that when you have that type of role you should concentrate on it. If you try to keep the two roles at the same time, you will either do one well and the other badly or even end up doing nothing well.

“The role of general secretary is to empower the party, bring people together and make sure the party can organise itself well.”

Among the promises made during his campaign for the leadership, Alex Borg said he would introduce a second deputy leader position.

Under Borg’s plan, the role, currently held by one person, Alex Perici Calascione, would be split into a deputy leader for party affairs and a deputy leader for parliamentary affairs.

On whether he was interested in either position, given his general secretary background, Piccinino was non-committal.

'Determined to work as an MP'

“When one can consider what decisions should be taken in the coming months, one can then take a decision,” he said.

Pressed, he said: “If you told me I had to make that decision today, I would tell you I am determined to work as an MP and shadow minister and not in other roles, but in the future, you can never say what will happen.

“If you told me I had to decide today, that decision would be a no,” he said.

Piccinino was recently appointed shadow minister for the self-employed, small enterprises and co-operatives.

On his brief, Piccinino said small businesses and the self-employed needed to face fewer bureaucratic hurdles.

“We need to see in detail how every policy affects small businesses. Some assessment has already been carried out, but it is not made public, so there is no accountability,” he said.

He said larger businesses usually have dedicated staff responsible for ensuring compliance with regulations, while small businesses and self-employed people are disproportionately affected by the administrative burden.

He also said the law regulating co-operatives, dating back to 2000, needs to be updated.