President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami yesterday corrected Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando after the Nationalist MP compared his recent voting against the government line with the way the PN grandee voted back in 1974.

In a long interview on One TV early in the morning, Dr Pullicino Orlando said that when Parliament voted on the Republic Constitution in 1974, Dr Fenech Adami voted with Labour against the party line, against the directives of the PN and leader George Borg Olivier. But Dr Fenech Adami reminded Dr Pullicino Orlando that the PN parliamentary group had actually decided to vote in favour of the constitutional amendments in 1974.

“Then there were six dissidents... Among them was Dr Borg Olivier, who said everyone should have a free vote since there was no unanimous agreement. But the party’s decision – and I played a primary role in ensuring this – was that we should vote in favour of the amendments,” Dr Fenech Adami told The Times. .

Dr Fenech Adami said Dr Borg Olivier wanted to vote “no” because he wanted to keep the British monarchy as the Head of State. However, he was only joined by five other MPs. He accused Dr Pullicino Orlando of not knowing the facts and making wrong comparisons between his recent actions in Parliament and a “completely different” situation.

PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier issued a similar statement, explained that on November 29, 1974 a majority of the PN executive and the parliamentary group voted in favour of the constitutional amendments but the party leader asked that MPs should not be bound on the way they voted.