Pierre Portelli resigns as chairman of Nationalist Party media

The chairman of the Media.Link, the Nationalist Party’s media wing, has resigned his post because what he said were constant coordinated attacks on the party by some of its MPs.

“It is evidently clear that persevering in my role will not bring further changes due to the constant and coordinated attacks on the party and its media by some of your MPs within the Parliamentary Group who went as far as sustaining and aiding criminal activity by third party simply to get you out of the way,” Portelli wrote in resignation letter dated 14 June 2019.

Portelli was appointed chairman in November 2017, shortly after Adrian Delia was elected leader of the PN. Delia’s time at the helm of the party has been marred by constant infighting which has culimated since the PN’s dismal showing at the polls in last month’s MEP and local council elections.

READ MORE: Anti-Delia posters stuck to Labour Party clubs as pressure mounts on embattled leader

In his letter, Portelli said that despite Delia’s promise of a new way, and a vision to open the part and its media up to new ideas, new people and new solutions for the country, he had come to realise that “that dream needs to wait for the revolution to take place”.

“One that draws up new rules of engagement that are clear to all those seeking office under the PN brand,” Portelli said.

The announcement came shortly after a meeting of the PN’s executive committee met on Monday night, during which it was reported that Delia had said that he would be presenting MPs with a plan on the way forward, ruling out a resignation.

READ MORE: Open rebellion inside Nationalist Party as MPs tell Adrian Delia to go

A meeting of the PN’s parliamentary group is scheduled to take place tomorrow. During a meeting of the same group last week, a number of MPs were said to have told Delia that he should leave, giving him an ultimatum before which to resign.

In his Facebook post on Monday, Portelli said that he had handed in his resignation last week, and that despite Delia asking him to reconsider, “the events that unfolded during today’s Executive Council meeting [only] reinforced his concerns”.

“As I explained in my resignation letter to our party leader  Adrian Delia, there are others within the PN that need to be exposed and shamed before they destroy the party we love,” Portelli wrote.

“I choose to do so as an outsider, unshackled by an official post.”

He pledged to do his utmost to see the PN on its “path the recovery to be able to offer the solutions the country needs”.  

READ MORE: PN executive president Mark Anthony Sammut resigns: ‘Result is disastrous and others should do the same