Updated 6pm

Adrian Delia vowed on Saturday to make the Nationalist Party the party of the people again and said he was willing to forgive as he faced a crucial vote about his leadership.

He was speaking at the party's general council, which is putting Dr Delia's leadership to a vote of confidence following two heavy electoral defeats.

Members of the PN's general council filed into the party's Pieta' headquarters throughout the day to cast their vote for or against Dr Delia's continued leadership of the party. 

Voting closed at 6pm and an estimated 92 per cent of the 1,496 people eligible to vote had done so, PN media reported. A final result is expected at around 8pm on Saturday evening. 

Dr Delia entered the party's Pieta' headquarters at around 5.30pm, greeting well-wishers as he did so. 

'I will not be intimidated'

Speaking earlier in the day, Dr Delia said there were some who did not wish to see the PN celebrate its 140th anniversary next year. But the PN had a soul and Nationalists had to vote for a party which brought hope.

He promised not to lose heart and not to be intimidated.

"A councillor told me that [former PN leader and Prime Minister] Eddie Fenech Adami did not lose heart when they attacked him or when there were people from the party who lost faith. I will not be afraid or intimidated". 

Dr Delia said he was "ready to forgive everyone," though he tempered that offer of an olive branch with a caveat, adding  "but when they attack my family, my will only becomes stronger”.

He was seemingly referring to the publication of a judicial protest in which his wife alleged he was behind on various payments to the banks. Dr Delia denied the claims and decried them as a "malicious attack" in a party statement.

"The PN would remain a Christian Democractic party and "would not be pushed to extremes," Dr Delia said to a standing ovation. 

I am ready to forgive everyone, but when they attack my family my will only becomes stronger- Adrian Delia

A broad consultation process was already being planned for the party to open up and to not remain a party of the few.

Members knew what they were doing when they elected someone from outside politics because the party was made up of all those of goodwill. The PN was one determined united party that knew where it wanted to go, he said.

Dr Delia warned of a 'pseudo-democracy' within the PN and focused his speech on the fight "of the many within the party, not the few". 

Once the people decided on the party's leader, the party would move forward as one, he said. "It's not a case of - because I'm wrong, I do not listen to others. That would be pseudo-democracy," he said. 

Although party insiders have indicated Dr Delia stands a good chance of obtaining a majority of votes from PN councillors, the size of that majority will be the crucial factor in determining how decisively the Nationalist leader can move on from the vote towards the next general election.

Those calling for his head within the party have not yet named an alternative leader should Dr Delia lose the non-binding vote and decide to step down.

'We will back the leader, or back off' - Bartolo

The council was earlier also addressed by Ivan Bartolo, who led the petition calling for Saturday's council.

He was greeted by jeers as he went on stage, prompting Dr Delia to interrupt and telling dissenters: “if you do not want to listen, you can leave”.

Mr Bartolo warned that there was a real chance the Labour Party could make the PN irrelevant in the next general elections following the May electoral drubbing and the poor showing in the survey.

He made his belief against the current leadership clear that it was in the interest of his country and “because I love my party”. 

There was also the chance that the Labour Party could win two-thirds of the house in the next general election, putting democracy at risk, he said.

I am working to save democracy, not to ruin the Nationalist Party- Ivan Bartolo

Faced by the disgruntlement in the audience, Mr Bartolo declared: whatever the outcome, we have the duty to back the leader, or back off. This reaction was welcomed with applause from the audience.

He was also heckled as he explained that he would be travelling abroad on Sunday, saying he was explaining this “so that no one makes unnecessary comments”.

In his speech, he warned the party leader could become Prime Minister not from paid-up members but from the electorate.

Our duty is to focus on what unites us, which is democracy and the PN, he said, to applause.

PN leaders had never surrounded themselves by people who were just ‘yes men’, he said.

“I am working to save democracy, not to ruin the Nationalist Party,” he insisted as the older members in the crowd jeered.

Internal split 'no secret' - Justin Schembri

Opening the council, councillor Justin Schembri called for an end to the two factions within the party.

He publicly acknowledged the internal split, saying this was “no secret”.

The split led the party to the May elections as two separate parties. “Do we want to go into the next election as half a party,” he asked. 

Councillors’ duties were not to defend Dr Delia but to bow their heads to the coat of arms of the PN, he said to applause.

We cannot save democracy in our country if we cannot save it within our own party, he warned.

To defend Borg Olivier’s, Fenech Adami’s, Gonzi’s and Simon Busuttil’s PN, the party had to respect the democratically-elected leader and vote for Dr Delia, he said.

Mr Schembri lambasted the anti-democratic culture within the party, saying it attacked personalities rather than debated ideas.

The confidence vote is being held at the PN’s headquarters between 10am and 6pm.

A total of 500 out of the 1,496 members of the General Council, the party’s highest organ, voted in the early session held on Wednesday.

Dr Delia presented himself as a fresh face after the PN’s drubbing in the 2017 general election.

Since taking over the PN helm, he has struggled to unite the varying factions within the same party.

He has also faced accusations of impropriety in his past financial dealings, which are the subject of a criminal investigation by the police.