Nationalist MPs say President has confirmed Delia has lost their trust

Nationalist MPs who supported a no-confidence motion against Opposition leader Adrian Delia have said the President of the Republic has confirmed that some two-thirds of the PN parliamentary group had declared to him their lack of trust in Delia.

According to PN sources who spoke to MaltaToday, George Vella informed Nationalist MP Chris Said, one of the proponents of the vote of confidence last Tuesday, that he had confirmed the reported numbers against Delia.

On Friday evening at 8:45pm Adrian Delia said he made his own legal submissions to the President, and that he was reaffirming his loyalty to both the PN’s party members, the party statute, and his Constitutional oath.

Of the 28 PN MPs, David Agius, Robert Arrigo, Frederick Azzopardi, Anthony Bezzina, Robert Cutajar, Maria Deguara, Mario Galea, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Clyde Puli and Edwin Vassallo supported Delia in the no-confidence vote.

But since then, one of the MPs had reportedly backed Therese Comodini Cachia as leader of the opposition, along with the 17 MPs who voted against the PN leader. Sources said the MP had expressed disappointment at Delia’s refusal to compromise and closing the door on any kind of dialogue with the dissenting MPs.

READ ALSO: President summons Nationalist MPs

MPs yesterday were fearing the possibility of more accusations being levied against Delia, in some form or other, following the publication of leaked Whatsapp messages that allegedly showed how Delia conversed with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech last year. The chats, which were published by The Sunday Times of Malta, sparked outrage among PN MPs, a majority of whom insisted Delia's position was no longer tenable after he engaged with Fenech when it was known that he owned 17 Black.

President George Vella yesterday continued summoning Nationalist Party MPs to gauge whether they have confidence in Adrian Delia as Opposition leader.

Vella started the process yesterday after Opposition MPs Chris Said and Claudette Buttigieg went to him to trigger the process to remove Delia from his constitutional role.

The MPs also proposed Therese Comodini Cachia as Delia’s replacement after an earlier attempt to convince Claudio Grech fell flat.

After the vote, Delia vowed to stay on as party leader and yesterday evening insisted he was still Opposition leader.