Crowded house: PN members could be spoilt for choice in new leadership election

A crowded field of contenders for the Nationalist Party leadership could encourage party councillors to vote for a fresh leadership election when the General Council is convened next week on Friday.

Although MP Therese Comodini Cachia was nominated for the post of Opposition leader when rebel MPs passed a motion of no-confidence against leader Adrian Delia, the former MEP is one of the potential contenders for the party leadership.

But so are some very familiar names whose campaign teams are revving up for a go at the leadership: they include MEP Roberta Metsola, the president of the PN’s executive committee Alex Perici Calascione, himself one of the leadership contenders in 2017, and the Gudja local councillor and former president of the PN executive, Mark Anthony Sammut.

An interesting addition will be the lawyer and media pundit Bernard Grech, who had already rated highly in a MaltaToday survey on possible replacements for Delia. Technically the only ‘outsider’ in a field of party officials and MPs, Grech’s candidature could be the one to watch.

It remains unclear whether Delia’s former leadership rival Chris Said, who led the parliamentary no-confidence motion against the PN leader, and MP Claudio Grech are committed to entering the race. What is sure is that it will be overshadowed by Adrian Delia himself, who has confirmed he will run for re-election should the General Council kick off the race.

Yesterday Delia urged party councillors to vote in a forthcoming General Council that will either call on paid-up par- ty members to vote in a confidence motion in him, or kick off a new leadership election. “If we work together and pull the same rope, we can arrive at offering an alternative government for our country.”

Delia urged supporters to “show the strong heart and soul” of the PN. “Our party members are the essence, the heart and soul of the party. 

“Our party members are the essence, the heart and soul of the party. The party is not the clubs or the headquarters, those are part of the organisation of the party. The party is the ‘tesserati’,” Delia said on NET FM.

“The parliamentary group made a declaration, but this is not binding. I have always said that the issues affecting the parliamentary group should be dealt with by the parliamentary group... but when it comes to the leadership of the PN we must go to our tesserati. The statute is not there to be stretched and twisted, but to be observed.”