Delia wants members to show ‘real democracy’ of PN

Embattled leader Adrian Delia has urged party councillors to vote in a forthcoming General Council that will either call on paid-up party members to vote in a confidence motion in him, or kick off a new leadership election.

Delia, who has confirmed he will run for re-election if a leadership race is decided, said the PN had to emerge stronger from the process. “If we work together and pull the same rope, we can arrive at offering an alternative government for our country.”

In an interview on party station NET FM, 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. 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.

“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 stretch and twisted, but to be observed.”

Delia said he was not against criticism of his ways, saying the PN had to use persuasion to win over voters, and called on party members to participate in the discussion on the party’s future, describing the votes yet to come as “real democracy”.

Whatever the outcome of Wednesday’s vote, Delia said he saw a future for himself in the PN. “Whatever happens the PN must be strengthened. Adrian Delia will be involved in the PN, fighting corruption and fighting for our children. When you are convinced, you can never lose… the loser is the person who only plays to win himself. I cannot lose, if the party wins, I win. If the country wins, I win.”

Delia also turned to the state of chief witness Melvin Theuma, saying that the State had an obligation to safeguard the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder middleman from such unhappy episodes. “The State has an obligation to avoid these things from happening. It must protect him in every way inside and outside his home. The State has failed,” he said.

But he also said the PN must be critical and constructive in its opposition, despite the disappointments.
“We wake up and find that we have lost everything we obtained in the 70s and 80s by a government that does and hides evil,” Delia said, closing with a rallying cry to disenchanted voters. “PN don’t lose heart, you are a party of determination and in difficult moments you must show what the heart and soul of the party is. In these moments we become stronger. Take courage, the party is yours.”