Adrian Delia concedes: ‘My revolution was resisted by a conservative faction’

The Nationalist Party’s outgoing leader Adrian Delia has conceded after losing the election for the leadership.

Bernard Grech is expected to win the leadership contest by over 67%.

Delia paid tribute to the PN’s election and decision to allow its leaders to be elected by its paid-up members. “The PN has shown it is capable to live to this democratic commitment… I thank all those who participated in this election, and the electoral commission, even in the difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Delia would not speculate as to whether he should cede his parliamentary seat to Bernard Grech, who will have to take up his seat as Opposition leader after an MP resigns their seat.

He said the PN now had to come together and unite behind Grech. “The challenge now is for us to stop the bickering between us. The country needs a strong opposition, and a strong, united Nationalist Party.”

He also said he would be loyal to the new party leadership. “I will be loyal to the country, first and foremost. I am a proud Nationalist, and I will be loyal to the party. I will give all my energy, and my support, from the heart, so that the PN gets what I did not find... I want my leader to not suffer from what I passed through in the last three years.”

Delia also said he remained steadfastly opposed to the politics of hate. “We are Maltese first and foremost and politics is there to help people and serve them.”

Delia said that the “revolution” he wanted to see inside the PN was premature, and that he was resisted by a conservative faction. “You cannot change 140 years of history in three years… but that does not mean that what I believe in, and what I tried to do, is not possible.”