Busuttil most likely to get the two thirds of councillors’ votes

Dr Simon Busuttil is set to succeed Lawrence Gonzi’s at the helm of the Nationalist Party, when now he will be the sole candidate in the race to obtain two thirds of the councillors votes in the second round of the PN leadership contest which is scheduled for Wednesday to be in line with the PN's statute. Although Dr Busuttil will be alone to seek the votes of the Councillors he is bound to get the two thirds of the votes, which according to PN insiders will be easily reached. Statistically and historically when one candidate went alone for the final vote he always managed to get over and above the two third of votes. In the first round of the contest Dr Busuttil emerged as the clear cut favourite with 451 votes (50.3%), followed by Mario de Marco with 345 votes (38.5%). The other two contestants considered as underdogs failed to make an impact with Francis Zammit Dimech obtaining 54 votes (6%) and Raymond Bugeja garnering 47 votes (5.5%) of the votes. The result of the PN leadership contest was read shortly after 10pm, in a packed hall at the PN headquarters in Pieta.