Nationalist Party reform chief Louis Galea on Wednesday told Adrian Delia it was time to respect the party’s paid-up members and start the process for a new leader.
Early on Wednesday, Delia lost a vote of confidence within the party’s executive, just a few days after losing a vote of confidence within the parliamentary group. Delia is, however, insisting on staying put, saying it is the party’s paid-up members who elected him leader.
Galea was appointed in June 2019 to assess the state of the PN and lead a process to reform the party.
He is the latest in a series of senior PN figures to urge Delia to reconsider his position. Former leader Lawrence Gonzi has called on Delia to run an “open and fair” leadership contest while Tonio Borg reportedly told the current leader he could either run a leadership race, put his leadership to a confidence vote in the general council or resign.
In his statement, Galea, a party stalwart, said he joined the appeal made by Gonzi and others and fully supported any proposal to run a fair election for a new party leader.
Malta, he said, needs and deserves a credible opposition with a new leader as soon as possible.
“I am afraid that unless there is new leadership capable of bringing together the rainbow of opinions the PN always had and inspire confidence in the people and work for their aspirations, this foundation (laid by the party's new statute) will not be translated in the good the party aims for and which it has the potential to achieve.”
He said it is completely wrong and mistaken for Delia to say that a vote by the parliamentary group and the executive committee is of no consequence.
“The votes of MPs, elected by thousands of people, and of the members of the executive committee, elected by the party’s paid-up members, are not against the interests of the party but a free and democratic expression on what is best for the party to embark on the road to success,” Galea said.
The PN headquarters in Pietà.‘Party losing support in consistent manner’
Galea said he knows of no democratic country where a political leader lost the support of the majority of his MPs and the party’s executive committee and did not take the “obvious and honourable" road and prepare for a change in leadership.
“I also know of no serious party in a democratic country which during three years of administration loses the people’s support and confidence in such a strong and consistent manner as is happening in the PN and does not take the necessary action to change its leadership.”
This, Galea said, is happening while so many Maltese are ready to join the PN because of the corruption within the Labour Party and the abuses involving its most senior politicians.
Galea said that three years into Delia's leadership, paid-up party members had not seen any results from his promise of a “new way” of doing politics. Instead, the party had haemorrhaged support and confidence.
“Like everyone, Delia has his merits. But it is a fact that these are not enough to overcome the other factors hindering the party from acquiring the necessary credibility and unite in an effective manner to acquire the popular support it should be enjoying considering all that the country is going through under a Labour government.”
Party statute builds party on representative democracy
In his statement, Galea also said that while the PN’s new statute left the final choice of party leader in the hands of paid-up party members, the leader was subject to accountability towards the party’s organs – the sectional committees, the parliamentary group, the administrative council, the executive committee and the general council.
“The duty of paid-up members to elect a leader is not superior to the duties and functions of these organs,” he said.
Galea made a comparison with government to make his point.
“No one would ever think that if a government loses a vote of confidence in parliament it would say such a vote is without consequence because it was installed in government by the people, not MPs,” Galea said.
He also noted that the party statute left the administration, direction and disciplinary function of the party up to the executive committee and the general council, not paid-up members.
“So how can anyone say that the vote of the majority of the executive committee or of MPs does not count for anything,” Galea asked.
He added that Delia “has the duty” to “stop abusing” the loyalty of paid-up members and direct them according to the direction being given by the executive committee for the good of the party.