Watch: Adrian Delia rules out contesting PN deputy leadership

Adrian Delia has ruled out contesting a deputy leadership election in the Nationalist Party. 

There isn't even a vacancy, he told Times of Malta following his narrow defeat to Alex Borg, and speculating about it would imply trying to oust current deputy leader Alex Perici Calascione, something he says he does not want to do. 

Pressed on whether that meant he was uninterested in any PN leadership role, he said he was not interested in contesting another election, suggesting that he might consider taking on a role if the party needed him to. 

Delia has repeatedly said he is prepared to serve wherever the party needs him. 

He is now fully committed to supporting Borg and continuing to fight for the PN’s cause, he said. He will be contesting the next general election on two districts and expressed confidence the party could win the election within a year, as Borg claimed last week. 

Asked whether he would consider running for leader again should the PN lose the next general election, Delia said he is “absolutely not interested” but added a note of political pragmatism.  

“I wasn’t considering a run this time either, until shortly before the contest began. So, I learnt from experience that you cannot predict what will happen in a year or two in politics,” he said. 

The full interview will be published in the coming days.