Adrian Delia did not have the best start. An unknown coming out of left field with no voters or political experience to his name, it took the kind of mulishness he has exhibited ever since to even dream that taking on the PN leadership was a good idea. But as always, the Maltese voter went for the underdog.

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t sold. I like track records; I like concrete proof of things done. I don’t believe in newness for the sake of it. He reminded me too much of a car salesman, yet despite this, I was also painfully aware that there weren’t many alternatives, and like most of the country, I was willing to wait and see.

We didn’t have to wait too long. Almost from day one, unsavoury stories were circulated and whenever he did make an appearance, he always had a knack for putting his foot in his mouth. What also smelled funny was the fact that the opposition seemed so warm and welcoming towards him.

Every few weeks or so, a new story would emerge that would allude to the fact that all was not well in his stables and this did not sit well with the same voters who had tried to vote Joseph Muscat out based on the same line of allegations. How could the same people calling out for justice to be served now sit easy with voting for someone who quickly showed himself to also be tarnished?

And so, the rumbles of discontent continued and soon people who had voted for the Nationalist Party for most of their adult lives were openly coming out and saying that if Delia stayed on, they wouldn’t. Survey after survey churned out the same results; members of the opposition started to form different factions. You could cut the tension with a knife, the turnouts of mass meetings were abysmal and yet, he stayed on.

It would almost be comical if it weren’t so very tragic- Anna Marie Galea

The latest uncovered messages between him and Yorgen Fenech should have been the final nail in the coffin and yet, despite losing the vote of confidence 19 to 11, he has stated once again that he will never give up. It would almost be comical if it weren’t so very tragic. Like an ageing actress who still expects to get the role of the girl next door, he truly defines what it means to be unable to gracefully get off the stage.

I am truly tired of our small politicians with their giant egos. Endlessly exasperated with their stamping of feet when things don’t go their way. Disgusted by their lack of dignity and integrity. We are a country with no opposition in one of the hardest times our country has ever faced and yet this man continues to post pictures of his minestra and write sonnets that would make a pre-pubescent girl blush.

Are we going to let the country continue to fall to its knees at the altar of the politician’s ego? Is no one troubled by the fact that if the current ruling party gets an even more deafening majority, they can easily vote in parliament to change the constitution itself? And, most importantly, why has he dug his fingers so deeply into his seat? Are we then to assume that he truly does know more than he has let on?

The writing is on the wall. The fat lady hasn’t just sung, she’s done a three-act opera at La Scala. To look away now and shrug your shoulders at the dire straits we find ourselves in is not only irresponsible, it’s criminal. He must go.