Bernard Grech on Thursday submitted a declaration of his interest to recontest the post of PN leader to the party’s electoral commission.

According to the PN statute, the party leader is obliged to step down after losing the general election, giving party members the opportunity to elect a new candidate should they wish to do so. 

Grech is so far the only candidate to have said he intends to run.

Should he remain the sole candidate for the election, he will only need a simple majority vote to stay in the post. But if other candidates decide to contest him, a secret vote will be held. Should there be more than two candidates, the top two runners will then face off in an election among party members.

Grech became PN leader in October 2020 when he obtained 69.3% of party members’ votes when contesting against former leader Adrian Delia.

Delia has ruled out re-contesting the post, as have newly elected acclaimed criminal lawyer Joe Giglio and new MPs, Mark Anthony Sammut and Alex Borg.

The commission said in a brief statement that applications for the post can be collected from the organisational executive secretary Rudolph Marmara physically or through an email.

Declarations of interest have to be submitted by Saturday at noon.