The battle over Adrian Delia’s political future may end up before the Constitutional Court, as a group of dissident MPs who voted to replace him as opposition leader await the president’s final verdict. 

Delia’s fate on Saturday hung in the balance as President George Vella sought legal advice from unnamed constitutional lawyers and other advisors over whether he can strip Delia of his position as leader of the opposition in the House. Until last night there was no official communication.

Opposition sources said the MPs had already discussed the possibility of taking the matter before the Constitutional Court should Vella decide against ousting Delia. 

Times of Malta is informed that at least 19 Nationalist MPs have informed the president that they have no faith in Delia, following a series of one-to-one meetings.

This came after Delia lost a vote of confidence held during a marathon meeting of the opposition’s parliamentary group on Tuesday night. 

Delia has remained defiant in the face of the movement by his own MPs to oust him, saying he will not step down as leader of the Nationalist Party and that he remains opposition leader until the president says otherwise. 

Sources within the party said Delia is also weighing his options over possibly moving to eject some or all of the dissenting MPs out of the party. However, Times of Malta is informed that he has been advised that such an option would be “problematic” for several reasons. 

Sources told Times of Malta that Vella has reached the conclusion that the PN leader has indeed lost the backing of opposition MPs and therefore must now revoke Delia’s position as opposition leader, according to the constitution.

But sources say the president’s as-yet unnamed legal advisors have pointed to a conundrum in the constitution that could see Delia survive by the skin of his teeth. 

The president’s advisers are believed to have told him that once the opposition leader is removed, it should be the leader of the largest party in opposition to the government who must then be appointed to the post. In this case, that would still be Delia, as he has not resigned as PN leader.

This could lead to a situation where the president would strip Delia of his post as opposition leader only to reappoint him straight afterwards. 

Opposition MPs who voted against Delia told Times of Malta they were aware of this loophole. Should this occur, they had already drafted a letter for the president detailing how they still had no confidence in Delia.

“It is quite likely that this could end up before the constitutional court, and we are prepared to go that far if needs be,” said one MP, who asked to remain anonymous said.

The 19 MPs are banking on the advice given by three constitutional lawyers – Giovanni Bonello, Austin Bencini and Kevin Aquilina – who said Delia would have to leave as opposition leader once the president establishes he has lost his parliamentarians’ confidence.