Updated 7pm with Grech's reaction
Bernard Grech vowed to work relentlessly as he was re-elected Nationalist Party leader on Saturday evening securing 81% of the vote.
Grech ran a one-horse PN leadership ‘race’, which saw a turnout of 90% of the 1,564 eligible party councillors.
The leader obtained 1,124 votes in his favour, 266 against, while 12 votes were rendered invalid. The results were given by Peter Fenech, president of the PN electoral commission.
With a fragmented party still reeling from a 39,500-vote defeat in the March election, Grech needed to secure a strong mandate to lead the party into the 2024 European Parliament elections.
The PN rulebook states that a leadership confirmation process must be carried out after a general election. Since Grech ran uncontested this time around, the vote was only taken by party councillors and not members.
According to the PN’s statute, Grech only needed a simple majority, 50 per cent plus one more vote, to be confirmed as the party’s leader.
In the lead-up to the vote, sources in the opposition leader’s team said he had hoped to secure above 70 per cent of the vote.
He himself had said that anything less than that would be “disappointing”.
'Stop to individualism'
Speaking to enthusiastic supporters shortly after the result was announced, Grech said the message from councillors was clear: the need for unity and a stop to individualism.
"Love trumped hatred, truth trumped lies. You chose the courageous step for the party," the lawyer said, as he vowed a more organised, stronger and efficient party.
He said he intended to order an immediate stocktake of the party’s assets, and that the party’s commercial companies needed to operate at a profit.
As he detailed his plan to renew the group, Grech said the party needed to look whether there was a need to update "brand PN".
He pledged to do more home visits, beef up the party's customer care and invest more in AŻAD, among others.
Photo: Jonathan BorgPN general secretary Michael Piccinino said the strong result gave Grech the mandate to carry out the necessary changes. He urged supporters to come forward and actively join the party to build an effective opposition.
Although Grech ran uncontested, the election was not without controversy.
The party launched a last-minute bid on Friday to boost turnout by allowing councillors who are overseas to vote by proxy. But only 15 councillors resorted to voting so.
Those close to Grech say it is no surprise that the family lawyer-turned political leader faced a tough ride.
Grech had run against controversial former leader Adrian Delia in an election that splintered party supporters.
He secured 69 per cent of the vote that time round.
He has since fielded a crop of fresh-faced candidates in the March general election.
As a result, Grech is facing claims from some long-standing party figures who failed to get elected who say he deliberately sidelined them.