The Nationalist Party is heading towards the June 8 elections with two main targets: a third seat in the European Parliament and overturning majorities in at least five councils.
Sources close to the party said the PN is set to launch its campaign for the upcoming European Parliament and local council elections on May 1 at an event at Ġnien l-Għarusa tal-Mosta.
The party has tasked former MP and ex-St Julian’s mayor Karl Gouder as its campaign manager, assisted by MP Chris Said and Gozitan MP Alex Borg, who will be responsible for the campaign focusing on Gozo.
Party insiders told Times of Malta that despite the negative results of successive surveys, the PN is confident there is a strong element among those who are declaring they will not vote who will consider voting for one of its new candidates.
The PN is hoping to reduce the gap between both parties in the popular vote after a succession of defeats to the Labour Party.
The party is counting on its star candidate, European Parliament president Roberta Metsola, to draw more people to the PN.
Another top contender who is expected to retain his seat is David Casa.
A good number of candidates have thrown their names into the bag vying the third seat. The Agius pair - David and Peter - are among the favourites, although newcomers are receiving “very good feedback”.
Sources said the PN is hoping to perform well in the council elections too, where it hopes to overturn the majorities in at least five councils.
There are several councils that have been hanging in the balance since the last round of elections, as well as councils where residents are disgruntled and feel that the Labour-led council has performed badly.
These include the councils in San Ġwann, Mosta, Valletta, Siġġiewi, St Paul’s Bay, Mellieħa and Birkirkara.
In San Ġwann, Labour had won the majority by just a few votes.
In Birkirkara - once considered to be a Nationalist stronghold - the Labour Party obtained 52.2 per cent of the vote in 2019, winning a majority of seats on the 13-seat council. Birkirkara has seven Labour and six Nationalist councillors.
The PL had also won a majority of votes and seats in Birkirkara in the previous election in 2013, swinging the historic PN majority in Malta’s largest locality.
In San Ġwann, the majority swung in 2019 when PL snatched the locality with a majority of just 87 votes.
In Siġġiewi, both parties got 2,700 votes, but the PL snatched the majority throughout the counting process when more PL candidates inched closer to the quota needed for election.
Since then, the PN lost the candidate who garnered most first-count votes - Alessia Psaila Zammit, wife of former PN MEP candidate Frank Psaila, who moved out of politics.
The PN hopes her 1,139 votes will go to other PN candidates contesting in Siġġiewi.
In Valletta, Labour snatched the majority with just over 250 votes in the last election.
The PN is hoping to reverse this, banking on disgruntlement among residents, especially over the issue of tables and chairs which have taken over most streets, as well as the issue of late-night music and noisy streets keeping residents awake until the early hours.
However, an independent candidate, Billy McBee, is said to be garnering substantial support from residents who are disillusioned with the traditional parties.
A big loss for the PN was former mayor Christian Micallef who has decided to step away from local politics but is still helping prospective PN candidates.