Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Parnis has come to the defence of embattled Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia, saying he has no fault for the current situation of his party.

“Is it Adrian Delia’s fault if the party has accumulated debts? Is it Delia’s fault that in each survey the Nationalist Party is losing popular support. They have been losing elections for a long time,” he said.

Speaking in parliament during the adjournment on Tuesday evening, Parnis dedicated his 20-minute address to the situation within Opposition ranks.

His address was being delivered at the same time as the PN’s executive committee was due to meet to decide on the way forward, after Delia lost the support of his own parliamentary group.

Parnis said the government could never take lessons in democracy and the rule of law from those who showed no respect to the will of the party members who had elected Delia in 2017.

He accused a faction within the Opposition of being stuck in political strategies based on personal attacks and hatred, which he said had been rejected by the electorate time and time again.  

“I will not take the sides of any PN leader as I know we will be in a strong position [to seek re-election] as people have rejected the approach based on hatred and personal attacks,”

“They do not even respect themselves, less so their political rivals,” he added.

The parliamentary secretary said the Delia was being targeted within his own party, despite having been democratically elected.

"You put aside all rule of law principles which are supposedly close to your heart in an attempt to destroy him," he remarked.

Parnis saluted President George Vella, who in recent days decided that even though Delia had lost the support of his own MPs, he could not be removed as Opposition leader on the grounds that he was still the PN leader.