Puli to recontest secretary general post, may face Zammit Dimech

● Puli could face veteran Zammit Dimech for secretary general role

Veteran politician Francis Zammit Dimech is mulling the idea of contesting the post of Nationalist Party secretary-general, according to a report in MaltaToday yesterday, which he has confirmed with this newspaper.

Incumbent Secretary General Clyde Puli, meanwhile, has also put his name forward in a bid to retain his position.

Zammit Dimech is seen by the old guard as the ideal candidate to replace Puli in the election which will be held next month.

Zammit Dimech, 65, had told the newspaper that he is pondering the possibility.

In reply to questions by The Malta Independent yesterday, Puli confirmed he will be contesting for the post again, two years after taking over in the wake of the election of Adrian Delia as leader.

“Yes I shall be contesting the post of secretary general. The post requires someone working closely and supporting the party leaders, something which I have done for the last two years and which I look forward to continue doing for the length of the project we entered into together. The party requires the necessary stability to move forward,” he said.

Puli said he is not aware about other possible candidates, apart from Francis Zammit Dimech.

MaltaToday reported that Puli is seen as the “major cause” of a rift between the present administration and a sizeable group of MPs, who have approached Zammit Dimech and are encouraging him to consider the idea.

In reply to this, Puli said that, “this is simply Labour’s propaganda to denigrate the Nationalist Party to mask the country’s real problems and the growing rift within the Labour Party.”

Puli was also asked whether he believed that he has the support of the executive. He replied: “I see no reason to believe otherwise”.

Zammit Dimech served as an MP between 1987 and 2017, but lost his seat before taking up one in Brussels as an MEP.

But, even here, he failed to be re-elected in the election held in May this year.

Louis Galea, who has been appointed by leader Adrian Delia to work on a reform of the party’s internal structures, is pushing to introduce a new rule depriving sitting MPs of the possibility of holding office in the party’s executive, the newspaper reports.

MPs like Puli, as well as Kristy Debono, who serves as the president of the general council, would not be eligible for their existing post if Galea’s proposal goes through.

Zammit Dimech is known for his extreme loyalty to the party he has service for over 40 years, and is considered to be independent of the two factions which currently compose the higher echelons of the PN.

He recently also served as the chief electoral commissioner when leader Adrian Delia put his tenure to the test after the 2017 MEP election defeat.