“There will always by factions in the Nationalist Party. Since my childhood, the party has been a mosaic of people with different opinions, ranging from the ultra conservative to the ultra liberal.”

“However, the PN managed to unite this mosaic to win elections. If it loses part of this mosaic, it won’t be able to win an election because, unlike the PL, it doesn’t have a solid 40% base that will vote for them no matter what.”

“It is a fact that PN supporters find it much easier to change their vote.”

Thake argued that the Maltese electorate tends to vote for parties based on their leaders, stating that the PN only managed to win the 2008 election by a small margin because then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was more popular than his counterpart Alfred Sant.

“The tesserati voted for Delia for him to win public trust, but surveys and election results show he clearly hasn’t managed to do so. The PN leader has lost credibility and Malta needs a strong Opposition just as it needs a strong government.”

“A party can have the best policies in the world but if it, and particularly the leadership, doesn’t have credibility, it will be very difficult for people to ever trust it to implement these policies.”

Thake was one of 17 MPs who voted against Delia in a recent confidence vote and was one of four MPs who the PN leader later named as politicians he will never trust again.

He is one of the first PN politicians to publicly call for a fresh leadership election, although Gonzi reportedly urged Delia to go down this route during an executive council meeting this week.