The Malta Independent on Sunday
Thousands descend onto polling booths to elect new PN leader
The gruelling 12-week campaign to elect a new leader of the Nationalist Party (PN) drew to a close last night, with 14,718 paid-up members having descended onto various polling booths to cast their ballots.
Four candidates tried their luck. Two weeks ago, the party’s councillors and top officials narrowed down the four contenders – Alex Perici Calascione, Frank Portelli, Chris Said and Adrian Delia – to two, Said and Delia.
In total, 1,396 PN members voted at the sub-headquarters in Sannat, Gozo (8am-8pm) while 10,727 members voted at polling booths located at the MFCC in Ta’ Qali and at the Granaries in Floriana (8am-9pm) yesterday. A total of 2,595 members voted the previous Saturday in the early voting round for those who could not make it to the polls yesterday.
In total, that made up a turnout of 14,718, amounting to 94.7 per cent.
There are roughly 22,000 paidup members within the PN, with 18,000 who were eligible to vote. Of the 18,000, a total 15,527 members collected their voting documents from the PN headquarters.
Outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil delivered his farewell remarks on Friday evening at a highly decorated convention at the Pieta headquarters. Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was in attendance, together with the PN’s biggest names. The process to elect a new leader began shortly after the Opposition suffered a second historical defeat of roughly 35,000 votes on the 3 June snap general election.
This is the first time that party members have been allowed to be part of the electoral process in the PN’s history, and they will be asked to vote again for the second time in the coming months for the party’s new deputy leaders – one for parliamentary affairs and for party affairs, replacing Fenech Adami and Mario Demarco
Over the past 50 years, the PN has elected five leaders, George Borg Olivier, Eddie Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gonzi, Simon Busuttil and today’s newly elected leader.
Tension at the polling booths
Yesterday morning, video footage emerged of rowdiness at a polling booth at Ta’ Qali, where Adrian Delia could be seen asking PN volunteers to help calm down and organise the crowd.
Multiple eyewitnesses also re- port a heated exchange between Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, who has been publicly backing contender Chris Said, and Adrian Delia’s brother.
Said cast his vote early yesterday morning at the PN club in Sannat, while Delia voted slightly later at the MFCC polling booths.
The votes were then transported to the Granaries where the counting took place into the early hours of this morning. Boxes filled with votes from Gozo arrived in Floriana at around 10pm last night.
Many reported long queues, some waiting for up to two hours, at the Ta’ Qali and the Granaries polling booths, with traffic having cleared up by lunchtime.
Delia and Said went head-tohead for the first and only time last Thursday. The debate was interesting thanks to the occasional sparks which flew both ways, each insisting that their vision for the PN is the best way forward for the party. References to corruption, personal attacks and the future of the party livened up the one-hour debate.
The two contenders distinguished themselves with Said stressing his long experience as a politician and years of loyalty to the party while Delia’s rally cry was that of being an outsider that can provide renewed life to the party.
Delia suffered heavy criticism for initially resisting publishing his declaration of assets, claiming that it is unfair since Said has had his prepared as part of his duties as a Member of Parliament.
Said had been repeatedly blasted for being part of the socalled PN establishment, and therefore unable to effect any real and meaningful change.