Delia supporters want PN to be free of ‘elitists who want to hijack the party’

A group of Adrian Delia supporters calling themselves Il-Vuċi tat-Tesserati have called out what they claim is a dirty campaign carried out by some PN MPs against the Opposition leader.

The Delia supporters described the rebel MPs as elitist and “first tier”, recalling the words of lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona a few weeks ago who used the description in a tirade against the PN leader and the people who support him.

The statement signed by councillors Andre Grech, Janice Chetcuti, Doriana Portelli, Anton Debono and Nicole Zammit, took a leaf from David Casa's testimony on Friday in the Caruana Galizia public inquiry, in which the MEP said he had no evidence that money exchanged hands between Yorgen Fenech and Delia to hinder his election campaign.

“This was a misleading and dirty campaign carried out behind leader Adrian Delia’s back that was fabricated by the clique of elitist MPs who call themselves first tier individuals, in collaboration with the media, who tried to ruin the leader’s reputation in the same week that the Auditor General released a damning report on the Vitals hospitals deal,” the statement read.

The reference is to media reports of exchanges that allegedly took place between Fenech and Delia when it was already known that the businessman owned 17 Black. Further to these exchanges, which did not refer to payments of any kind, Delia had to answer to the testimony of murder middleman Melvin Theuma, who claimed that Fenech had told him he had offered the PN leader money to disrupt Casa's re-election bid in last year's European Parliament election.

Delia has always denied having ever been offered money to disrupt Casa's campaign.

The statement called on party members to vote in the orange box on the ballot sheet, which would see Delia go for a confirmation vote among members rather than face a leadership contest.

“Let us continue working together behind Adrian Delia so the party is not kidnapped by the few,” the supporters said.

Delia is expected to address councillors at 6:30pm tonight at the opening session of the general council. Councillors can vote tonight until 8:30pm, and all day on Saturday until 6pm.

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