A petition expressing confidence in PN leader Adrian Delia, calling for party reform and seeking action against those within the PN who oppose Dr Delia and harm the party has been approved for discussion within the party executive.

The petition was signed by 536 people who said they were members of the PN general council and were calling for the council to meet. It was addressed to council president Kristy Debono along with another, identical petition, signed by 4,333 party members.

In a statement on Sunday, Ms Debono said that that 24 of the signatures on the councillors' petition were not valid. Six signatures were unacceptable because the signatories had not renewed their party membership and were no longer considered members.

Seven of the signatories last paid their membership dues in 2017 and 70 last paid in 2018.

However, since 429 signatures were valid the petition was being referred to the executive committee for discussion.

The petition, and that by the members, countered another petition presented earlier, which called for a confidence vote in Dr Delia. That petition was discussed by the executive council last Thursday 

Dr Delia subsequently announced that a vote on his leadership would be taken in the General Council on July 27, but was non-committal about resigning if the result was not in his favour.

“The decision to remove the party leader is in the hands of the paid-up members,” he told journalists following the six-hour meeting at PN headquarters.

“This doesn’t mean all items or petitions cannot be discussed,” he added.

Dr Delia also announced he was appointing former PN general secretary Louis Galea to spearhead the party reform process.