One of the Nationalist Party's newest MPs has dismissed a rumour that he will contest the party leadership, after blogger Simon Mercieca claimed that he is eyeing the role.
'Let me make it clear that I have no interest in contesting for [PN] leader, as some claimed," Mark Anthony Sammut wrote on Facebook.
"My only interest is to serve in my role as a new MP, be a voice for the two districts that elected me, and do my job as President of the PN General Council."
The 36-year-old electrical engineer won big last weekend, managing to get elected in a district in the south and another in the north, which is very unusual for a PN candidate.
He secured 1,904 first count votes in the 4th district and 921 in the 10th district. In the 4th district, he outshined incumbents Jason Azzopardi, Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Ivan Bartolo.
While Sammut performed excellently, his party had a dismal election and lost by a record margin of more than 39,000 votes.
According to the PN statute, the party leader must submit his or her resignation following an electoral defeat, triggering the prospect of a leadership election.
Party leader Bernard Grech has said that he would like to stay on as leader.
On Wednesday, blogger Simon Mercieca claimed that following the Times of Malta's story that Adrian Delia and Joe Giglio do not intend to contest the leadership pole, Sammut is eyeing the role.
He went on to say that if this is true, NGO Repubblika is divided because while Sammut, who occasionally delivered speeches at the NGO's events, is interested in the party leadership, blogger and Repubblika member Manuel Delia said publicly that Bernard Grech should stay.
In a Facebook post, Sammut dismissed those claims as false. Without mentioning him by name, he referred to Mercieca's comments as coming from a "pseudo-commentator who writes about people without ever speaking to them.:
Should Grech remain unopposed in his bid to be confirmed as PN leader, party members will be asked to confirm whether they want him to stay on.
New contenders are still in time to contest him, but so far there are still no candidates in clear sight.