Adrian Delia formally applies to contest PN leadership

Adrian Delia ended the guessing game on Saturday when he formally applied to join the contest for the Nationalist Party’s leadership post.

The former leader is already making history by becoming the first person within the PN to contest the leadership for a third consecutive time. If he wins, he would be the only one to be re-elected to the post following a hiatus.

Delia walked into the PN headquarters in Pietà on Saturday at around 10:15am, a couple of hours after posting a photo of South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, on Facebook with the message: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Exiting the headquarters, Delia told reporters he was ready to “hit the ground running” and called for “unity” within the party.

Delia was the first to announce his intention to contest for PN leader earlier this week but left everybody guessing amid mounting speculation that he could withdraw from the race after Gozitan MP Alex Borg formally applied to contest the post. The two had previously hinted that they would work in tandem.

But on Saturday, Delia downplayed any rivalry with Borg. He insisted the PN’s adversary was the Labour Party, adding that competition for the leadership was healthy. He also encouraged anyone else interested to submit their expression of interest.

So far, the PN leadership contest is a two-horse race between Delia and Borg but interested parties have until 2pm on Sunday to join the contest. It remains unclear whether former MP Franco Debono will make a run for it despite hinting strongly over the past couple of weeks that he is interested in the post.

Delia told reporters: “I built a lot of bridges. I made a lot of friends. We are ready to work together.” 

Delia was elected party leader in his first bid in 2017 when, as an outsider, he defeated Chris Said. Three years later Delia was ousted by a rebellion and lost in a face-off with outsider Bernard Grech.

The leadership election was kicked off after Bernard Grech resigned earlier this month following the latest MaltaToday poll that showed the PN trailing Labour by 29,000 votes and a dismal personal trust rating.