Third of Nationalist Party councillors cast ballot early in Delia confidence vote

A third of the Nationalist Party’s councillors have cast their ballot and voted on whether they want party leader Adrian Delia to stay on till the next general election.

The party will be holding a General Council on Saturday where councillors will be asked to vote on whether they believe Delia should go now or be allowed to continue leading the party until 2020.

The Nationalist Party said that there are 1,496 councillors who are eligible to vote, with 500 – 404 in Malta and 96 in Gozo – availing themselves of early voting.

Delia said last Sunday that he would work with his opponents should he win Saturday's vote, insisting however that there will be no place in the party for those who continue to seek to harm it. 

The council was convened after a group of 200 councillors signed a petition calling on the party administration to convene it and to hold a confidence vote in the leader in wake of the PN’s record loss in last May’s European Parliament and local council elections.

A counter protest expressing support in the embattled leader and calling for action to be taken against party dissenters was also presented to the party.

During a meeting of the PN’s executive committee earlier this month, the question being put to councillors was agreed to “unanimously”.

Delia initially ruled out a confidence vote, insisting that in his view, taking responsibility for the loss did not mean resigning.

“It appears to me that my political responsibility is to do all I can, to restructure the party for the next general election, as the PN’s members trusted me to do,” Delia had said.

READ MORE: PN petitioners claim Delia confidence vote question has changed completely