Despite mounting internal pressure to take action, the Nationalist Party leadership would neither say whether it dissociated itself nor what it intended to do with regard to comments that were made by former TV presenter-turned candidate Salvu Mallia.
The controversy was sparked by a series of posts Mr Mallia uploaded last week on his Facebook account using colourful and even foul language, while hurling abuse at the Labour government and its supporters.
Mr Mallia had fallen out with the Labour Party after being stripped of his popular cultural television series Madwarna on TVM. He insisted the decision was politically motivated, in the wake of his criticism of the Labour government.
In the aftermath of his most recent outburst on Facebook, PN sources told the Times of Malta that activists, sectional committee members and even senior officials had approached the party leadership, urging it to show its mettle.
“The least the party could have done was to immediately disassociate itself from such statements and, if necessary, take disciplinary action against Mr Mallia to prevent such an embarrassing incident from repeating itself,” the sources said.
Mr Mallia needs to realise he is now representing the PN and his conduct must be in line with the party’s ethos
On the political front, Labour raised the stakes further, challenging Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to take action in the wake of the his pledge to clean up politics.
Questions sent last Friday by this newspaper enquiring whether Dr Busuttil condoned Mr Mallia’s conduct or whether any disciplinary action had been taken remained unanswered at the time of writing yesterday.
The outspoken PN candidate refuted numerous calls to apologise, saying the criticism levelled at him was “petty” and came from “close-minded people”. Moreover, he justified using the words he chose, saying they were “appropriate and needed”.
Scepticism on Mr Mallia’s candidature had been expressed from the very moment he had expressed his intention to contest the next general election on the party ticket. Though, nowadays, all PN candidates must be approved by a party commission set up specifically to vet their nomination, the formal announcement of his candidature towards the end of last October was no surprise at all.
In fact, any lingering doubts had been put to bed a month before when Dr Busuttil had given him the floor during a one-to-one interview at the annual Independence activities on The Granaries, in Floriana. Back then, Mr Mallia had been given a hero’s welcome and portrayed as a vivid example of Labour supporters defecting to the PN.
“Mr Mallia needs to realise that he is now representing the PN and his conduct must be in line with the party’s ethos,” party delegates told this newspaper on condition of anonymity.
They cautioned that failure by the party leadership to take action would spell trouble for the PN’s election prospects.
“The worst thing that could happen is for the party to be constantly on the defensive, thus shifting the political agenda on itself rather than the numerous scandals embroiling Cabinet members,” they warned.