PN leadership election: Applications to close on Monday

The PN’s Electoral Commission yesterday issued a call for applications for those wishing to contest the leadership election, with the application period closing on Monday, 10 August, at 3pm.

In a post on Facebook, the PN said that any member who is interested in contesting the post must declare their intention in writing to the chairman of the Electoral Commission by sending an email to kummissjoni@pn.org.mt. The deadline is Monday at 3pm.

Last Saturday, the party's General Council voted to hold an internal leadership election.

Councillors had to decide whether the party’s paid-up members will vote to reject or confirm incumbent Adrian Delia, or go straight to an election for the leadership.

Around 56% of the councillors voted for a leadership election.

Adrian Delia has already declared that he will contest the election.

A number of other potential candidates are also being touted for the post, including PN MEP Roberta Metsola, PN MP Therese Comodini Cachia, as well as

lawyers Joe Giglio and Bernard Grech, however none have yet confirmed whether they will run.

Meetings of the PN’s Administrative Council and the PN’s Executive Committee were held last night, where discussions on the procedure took place.

After the application period closes, candidates will undergo a due diligence process before the party moves ahead with the election.

In a statement, Delia said that during the Administrative Council meeting he requested that the Electoral Commission ensure the procedure as laid out in the recently approved PN statute be followed “in the most rigorous way possible.”

“I insisted that, not only should the verification and due diligence processes be enforced, but that the exercise be done in the most rigorous way possible on every member who expresses an interest in contesting the election, including on myself.”

“I feel that it is in the interest of the PN as well as in the interest of the process itself that the due diligence be handled with the greatest care that one expects with such a process.”

After the Administrative Council meeting took place, the Executive Committee meeting began.

In a statement later in the evening the PN said that the Executive Committee approved the leadership election regulations put forward by the PN’s Electoral Commission. “The Executive Committee also approved the terms on which the verification and due diligence process on candidates will take place. According to the statute, the Candidates’ Commission has a maximum of six weeks to conduct this exercise. Final approval of these regulations and terms will go before the General Council.”

After the due diligence process concludes, the next major step depends on the number of candidates. If there are two candidates, then the tesserati (paid up members) will just vote for the leader in a general convention. If there are more than two candidates, then a general council would need to be called in order for councillors to vote, and the top two candidates will then move on to the general convention.