Lawyer Bernard Grech has affirmed that he would contest should there be a leadership race in the Nationalist Party, saying he has been considering contesting a general election for the past six months.

“In January I said I would contest the general election. Now we are heading on a democratic path towards a possible party leadership contest, and I have to decide what I will do then,” Grech said on Church-owned radio station 103.FM today.

Grech, a one-time campaigner against divorce in Malta, said the party needed a leader like Eddie Fenech Adami to unify the PN.

“When you can put all the various voices into one choir, that’s when the PN can unite and be strong. Fenech Adami did this. You cannot win an election just with ‘PN votes’. The PN can win with the votes of all those who truly recognise it as a party that has the country’s best interests at heart.”

He did, however, praise Delia’s ‘humility’ in agreeing to a compromised motion inside the party’s executive council in order to leave the fate of his leadership to the General Council.

Adrian Delia’s leadership has split the Opposition party, after losing majority support in the PN’s parliamentary group and executive committee members. PN politicians who oppose Adrian Delia’s leadership have proposed a counter-motion for the party to initiate a fresh leadership election among the party’s members (tesserati).

This motion is a counter-reaction to Adrian Delia’s call for a confidence vote among the tesserati. Members will vote on which motion to proceed with on August 1st. 

Adrian Delia has said that he would contest if a leadership race was announced.

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