Updated 2.45pm with PD leader's comments

Democratic Party leader Godfrey Farrugia has announced his resignation despite expressing himself content with the party's European Parliament election results. 

Dr Farrugia, who is one of PD’s two sitting MPs and has led the party since last October, told Times of Malta he would step aside along with the rest of the party executive as soon as the local council election results were announced.

He said he would remain on as caretaker until a new leader was chosen, while a steering committee would be appointed to analyse the result and set the way forward for the party.

No plans to re-contest

However, he said he had no intention of re-contesting the leadership post. 

"I feel it is in the national interest for me to give space to the next generation," he said. "PD will be orienting itself towards the next general election and it would best to do with a leader who is not approaching retirement age."

Dr Farrugia said he was satisfied with the election result, noting that PD had increased its vote count, in absolute terms, since the last general election.

One of the tasks of the new steering committee, he said, would be to align the party better with other small parties and independent candidates, with the aim of "forming a more synergistic political entity". 

PD received 5,276 first-count votes in Saturday’s election, a small improvement over its result in the 2017 general election, when its candidates ran on the PN ticket.

Dr Farrugia himself garnered just 1,668 first-count votes, while fellow candidate Cami Appelgren overshadowed her party leader with 3,053 votes.

A former Labour Party whip who resigned to join the fledgling party just before the 2017 general election, Dr Farrugia was PD’s third leader, succeeding Anthony Buttigieg and Marlene Farrugia, the party founder and its second MP.