Gonzi will step down as Nationalist leader

The Nationalist Party will elect a new leader in the next three months after Lawrence Gonzi took personal responsibility for his party’s crushing defeat at the polls yesterday. Addressing a televised press conference barely two hours after it emerged that Labour had won the election, Dr Gonzi said the people had spoken and the PN fully accepted the electorate’s decision. “I fully understood the message of the electorate and I take full personal responsibility for this result,” Dr Gonzi said, flanked by his deputy Simon Busuttil and general secretary Paul Borg Olivier. “This result also has consequences and I will not be taking part in the process for the election of a new PN leader,” he said. According to the PN statute, a general council must be held within three months of a general election to confirm the leadership and elect a new deputy leader. Until a new leader assumes the helm of the party, the PN will continue to analyse the results and start a reorganisation process, Dr Gonzi said. “The party now needs to reflect and start a regeneration process to make sure it will be in a position to serve at its best on the Opposition benches.” Promising that the Nationalist Party...