PM submits PN leadership nomination as disagreement with Debono persists

Updated 10.15 a.m.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning submitted his nomination for the PN leadership contest. He made no comment after he handed his nomination to PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier other than to confirm that his nomination had been filed. Today is the final day for nominations. As expected, no one else has thrown his name in the hat.

The secret ballot will be held on February 25 as the political crisis caused by MP Franco Debono's disagreements with Dr Gonzi and the PN leadership persists.

Dr Debono abstained in a no confidence vote in Parliament on January 26 after having initially warned that he would vote against the government. Dr Debono has publicly acknowledged the importance of the decision taken by Dr Gonzi to assume responsibility and call the leadership contest, but he has still been calling for accountability in various echelons of the government.

Dr Debono in comments to The Sunday Times last Sunday refused to give a guarantee he would vote with the government throughout this legislature.

Dr Gonzi and Dr Debono have not spoken since they met at the Auberge de Castille on January 22, although both have expressed a readiness to meet.

“The ball is surely not in my court. The decisions are to be taken by the Prime Minister now,” Dr Debono said on Sunday.

He said that as far as he was concerned there were no mediators in the matter, and the situation never warranted one. He said he preferred that Dr Gonzi communicated with him directly, whenever he needed to.

Dr Gonzi said the door to discussion was and remained always open. “We can find constructive solutions that are in the best interest of the country,” he told The Sunday Times.

Dr Gonzi will need to achieve the support of two-thirds of the vote to be declared a winner in the first round, after which a simple majority would be sufficient. The electoral commission is chaired by former minister Michael Refalo, assisted by MEP David Casa, Dr. Anne Fenech (AZAD); Sonia Vancell (President MNPN) and Boris Xerri (PN treasurer).

See Dr Gonzi's nomination on pdf below