Claudio Grech, the MP tasked by PN leader Bernard Grech to draft the Nationalist electoral programme, announced on Monday he will "take a step back" and not contest the general election.

He made the announcement at a PN event in Valletta, stressing that he will continue to campaign for the Nationalist Party and promote the electoral programme, "the best ever for Malta" which would make people proud.

“I am taking a step back, I want to create space for somebody else and other candidates,” Grech said.

In a reaction, PN leader Bernard Grech thanked the outgoing MP, who, he said, was and remained a "pillar" of the party.

Claudio Grech, he said, had worked for the party to regenerate itself and, as part of that process, was creating space for younger people, as had three other MPs – Clyde Puli, Kristy Debono and Mario Galea.

He thanked them all for understanding the need to regenerate the party. Young people were both the future and the present of the party, Grech said.

“We are regenerating ourselves before your eyes, this party is united and gathering strength,” Grech said to applause. 

Claudio Grech was elected for the first time in 2013, having previously served in the private secretariat of minister Austin Gatt. Over the past five years he served as shadow minister for health and then shadown minister for economic economic affairs.