Updated 5.30pm

Ninety per cent of PN councillors voted for on Saturday to confirm whether to confirm Bernard Grech at the party’s helm.  

With a fragmented party still reeling from a 40,000-vote election defeat in March, all eyes will be on whether Grech will be given the strong mandate to lead the party into the 2024 European Parliament elections.  

According to the PN’s statute, Grech only needs a simple majority, 50 per cent plus one more vote, to be confirmed as the party’s leader. 

Sources in the opposition leader’s team say he hopes to secure above 70 per cent of the vote among the roughly 1,600 party councillors eligible to vote. 

Although early voting started on Monday, the party launched a last-minute bid yesterday to boost turnout by allowing councillors who are overseas to vote by proxy. Just 15 councillors chose to vote by proxy.

In a statement, the PN urged councillors wishing to vote by proxy to "immediately" inform the party's election commission so someone else can be nominated to cast their vote. 

One PN veteran said resorting to proxy voting when councillors were already given the opportunity to cast their ballots as early as Monday could be "risky".  

"It is clearly an attempt to maximise the turnout for the leadership vote. If the process is handled transparently, with the party announcing the number of proxy votes, then the are no issues.  

Another PN official downplayed the significance of the move, saying the PN was merely formalising the process after receiving a number of requests for proxy voting throughout the week.  

The polls closed at 3pm in Gozo and 5pm at the PN's Pieta headquarters.  

The result should be known by around 6pm.

Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta last weekend, the PN leader said he was determined to carry out the necessary changes in the party, but admitted he was upset at “destructive” individuals who did not seek the party’s interests and were solely bent on tripping him up, especially ahead of the leadership election.