Administrative Council vote took place and was unanimous, council president insists

Karol Aquilina, the president of the Nationalist Party's administrative council has denied that no vote was taken following yesterday's meeting of the council, in which the council said that it did not feel that the leadership race should be suspended, while asking leadership contender Adrian Delia to reconsider his bid. 

Earlier today, Delia questioned whether a vote had in fact been taken during the meeting. He was answering journalists’ questions following a press conference in which he outlined his vision for the country, when he was asked by this newspaper for his reaction to comments by Aquilina, who was this morning reported to have said that all the council’s members had voted in favour of the council’s stated position, including Jean Pierre Debono who is believed to be a part of Delia’s campaign.

“The only information I have is that no vote was in fact taken. But you have to ask [Aquilina] because I was not there,” said Delia, adding that journalists should question Aquilina on whether a vote was in fact taken.

However, in a Nationalist Party statement issued shortly after Delia’s press conference, Aquilina insisted that the vote was in fact unanimous.

“With reference to the comments by Nationalist Party leadership contender Adrian Delia regarding yesterday’s meeting of the administrative council, I reaffirm that the vote was a unanimous one,” wrote Aquilina. “In fact, after the Consultative Council’s report on the findings of the ethics committee, a discussion was held where each member of the administrative council had the opportunity to intervene, more than once.”

“After the discussion, a statement was prepared, based on the contents of the discussion, the conclusions from which were read out to the members of the Administrative Council. Both the statement, as well as the report of the Ethics Committee were subject to the vote, that was approved unanimously,” concluded the statement. 

During the press conference, Delia insisted that the administrative council was wrong to suggest he leave the race, given that the ethics committee had not found him guilty of any wrongdoing.

When asked whether he would consider pulling out over doubts cast over his integrity Delia said that he had been practicing law for 24 years and hadn’t once been accused of any form of malpractice. This included the latest revelations, where his work as a lawyer was being taken out of context and used against him, he said.

“It would have been easy for me to disclose details to save my skin, but I have not,” stressed Delia.

He insisted that despite the “establishment’s” best efforts to derail his campaign, he still enjoyed the support of many people who were begging him to “fight for their aspirations” and to help them “take their beloved party back”.

Ultimately, said Delia, the party’s councillors would on Saturday be asked to vote to maintain his status quo or move forward with his new way.