Watch: Robert Abela will consider snap election if PN changes its leader

Robert Abela has said he would not rule out calling a snap election if the Nationalist Party “tries to destabilise parliament and the country with its internal theatrics” due to any leadership change.

“I do not exclude anything to re-establish stability in our country’s parliament,” the prime minister said in a televised Xtra interview aired on national broadcaster TVM.

It is unclear what instability Abela was alluding to, given that his Labour Party enjoys a commanding nine-seat majority in parliament.

Abela claimed the PN had already introduced similar instability during the COVID-19 pandemic – an apparent reference to an internal leadership struggle that ended in October 2020, when current leader Bernard Grech replaced his predecessor, Adrian Delia.

In that legislature, Labour had eight more parliamentary seats than the Nationalist Party and Abela felt no need to call an early election, with voters only going to the polls two years later, in 2022.

Abela’s refusal to rule out a snap election stands in stark contrast to what he told reporters last January, when he categorically denied talk of an early poll.

“The election will be held in 2027, at the right time and moment,” the prime minister said at the time, saying the plan was to only call an election at the end of the current legislature’s five-year term.

Speaking in his interview on Monday, Abela said he had very little interest in who he ended up facing as PN leader.

“I don’t know how many names I’ve heard touted as PN leader. I think their real problem isn’t Bernard Grech, it’s the faction Roberta Metsola belongs to, the one that thinks everything they do is good and everything everyone else does is bad,” he said.

“Whether it’s Bernard Grech, Ċikku or Peppu who I end up facing isn’t of secondary importance, it’s much less important than that.”

Robert Abela and Bernard Grech debating in 2022.

Bernard Grech, now into his fifth year as PN leader, has succeeded in stemming political infighting within the party but struggled to make inroads with voters.

The party did better than projected in MEP elections held last year but fell significantly behind Labour in local council elections held at the same time. Polls held since then suggest the gap between parties remains stable and that Abela continues to enjoy a significantly higher trust rating than the PN leader.

Roberta Metsola, the PN MEP and current European Parliament President is extremely popular among PN voters and has long been touted as a potential successor to Grech.

But a February poll published by Times of Malta suggested a large chunk of voters remain unconvinced about who should lead the PN, opening up an opportunity for challengers such as Gozitan MP Alex Borg, who has been building up his public profile in recent months.

Grech has so far brushed aside talk of him stepping aside due to poor polling data, saying the party remains “tenacious” and that his low trust rating means little as the focus must be on what people need, not individuals.