The Nationalist Party general council has voted to hold a convention in which paid-up members will be asked to elect a leader.
839 councillors (55.6%) voted to have a leadership election while 659 (43.6%) voted to confirm or reject the present leader. Eleven votes (0.8 per cent) were invalid.
Nationalist Party councillors were asked to decide whether a convention should be held to vote confidence in Adrian Delia as party leader, or to hold an outright election for the leadership. More than 93 per cent of the councillors voted – 1,509. The result was made official at 8.20pm.
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Adrian Delia at 9pm confirmed he will stand in the election. “I have faith in our members… it will be a choice by the many, not the few, who will determine the party’s destiny.” Delia said he would respect the forthcoming democratic vote, and pledged his support for the new party leader. “If you do vote for me as leader, I promise you changes which you have long called for – it will be a ‘new way with new people’, a PN led by the many, not the few,” he said.
Nationalist MP Chris Said on Saturday urged party leader Adrian Delia to “heed the message” after party councillors voted against him and opted for a leadership election.
Said was speaking shortly after the PN general council decided to forge ahead with a leadership contest, following two votes of no confidence in Delia by his fellow parliamentarians and the executive committee.
Referring to comments by Delia that should he be re-elected, he will work for “new politics with a new team”, he said this was a divisive message, symptomatic of the current situation because he had not been able to unite the party.
Malta Independent / Malta Today / Times of Malta / Partit Nazzjonalista
