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3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JULY 2020 NEWS ADRIAN DELIA & THE PN CRISIS Constitution games Article 90 (2) (a) of the Constitution states that the President appoints as Opposition leader the MP who is the actual party leader of the opposition party with the largest number of MPs; or (b) if MPs are not in an opposition party, then the MP who enjoys the support of the largest single number of MPs in opposition. But Article 90 (4) imbues the Presi- dent with an active role in deciding "in his judgement" what happens when the Opposition leader – in this case Delia – no longer enjoys the support of "the largest single group" of MPs in opposition. In this case, George Vella would have to revoke Delia's position as Opposi- tion leader. Delia's allies think that Vella would 'go back' to 90 (2) and reappoint Delia as the sole leader of the main party in opposition; constitutional- ists disagree with this literal inter- pretation Delia into submission concerns of the party's work- ing-class supporters. Without an assertive leader who bridges the party's divide between working and mid- dle-class constituencies, con- servatives and liberals, the PN could end up with a rift that runs deeper than this current split, even with a regional de- cline in the south and in Gozo. Party grandee Louis Galea might be articulating a mod- ern and secular vision for the PN's new statute, but the party simply lacks the leader who can translate this into a folllwing. That person is not Delia, but the alternative truly is a ques- tion mark: the rebels now have to prove that they have not put the cart before the horse. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Allies of the embattled leader who spoke to MaltaToday yesterday claimed they were sure Vella was be- ing advised that he would fall back on Article 90 (2) of the Constitution to determine that only the leader of the party in Opposition, could in effect be Opposition leader. But rebel MPs and constitutionalists like Giovanni Bonello, Kevin Aquilina and Austin Bencini are of a different opinion: that once Delia had lost his MPs' trust, Vella had to turn to the next MP who commanded the loyalty of the opposition party. With both sides entrenched in their positions, Delia's allies were also claim- ing that a potential expulsion of rebel MPs could be on the cards. "The PN statute is clear: this is exactly as had happened when Franco Debono was expelled from the party in 2012. What the MPs did here is tantamount to a breach of the statute, which says that the leader of the PN is the Opposition leader." According to an internal party source, Delia was ready to convene an execu- tive committee meeting on Tuesday so that he forms a board of discipline to discuss the rebels' actions. Rebel MPs who spoke to MaltaToday were sceptical about the threat. "Are they going to expel us all at once?" one MP said with reference to an executive committee member's move to have the rebels' actions censured. "Delia doesn't have the numbers in either the execu- tive committee or the General Coun- cil… his own supporters have been in the party too long to even consider that the PN could face such a split to expel us all from the party." The same MPs yesterday told Mal- taToday that the President of the Re- public had confirmed with Chris Said, some two-thirds of the PN parliamen- tary group had declared to him their lack of trust in Delia. Yet on Friday evening, in a short pub- lic statement Delia said he would be loyal to party members who elected him, as well as the party statute and his Constitutional oath. Of the 28 PN MPs, David Agius, Rob- ert Arrigo, Frederick Azzopardi, An- thony Bezzina, Robert Cutajar, Maria Deguara, Mario Galea, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Clyde Puli and Edwin Vassallo supported Delia in the no-confidence vote. But since then, one of the MPs had reportedly backed Therese Comod- ini Cachia as leader of the opposition, along with the 17 MPs who voted against the PN leader. Sources said the MP had expressed disappointment at Delia's refusal to compromise and clos- ing the door on any kind of dialogue with the dissenting MPs. Should Delia be successful in forcing the expulsion of the rebel MPs, the group would have ironically become the "largest single grouping" in opposition, and constitutionally, this would mean the President would have no choice but to recognise Therese Comodini Cachia as Opposition leader. Delia allies this week were fearing the possibility of more accusations be- ing levied against Delia, in some form or other, following the publication of leaked WhatsApp messages that al- legedly showed how Delia conversed with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech last year. The chats, which were pub- lished by The Sunday Times of Malta, sparked outrage among PN MPs, a ma- jority of whom insisted Delia's position was no longer tenable after he engaged with Fenech when it was known that he owned 17 Black. President George Vella this week summoned Nationalist Party MPs to gauge whether they have confidence in Adrian Delia as Opposition leader, af- ter MPs Chris Said and Claudette Butt- igieg went to him to trigger the process to remove Delia from his constitutional role. Delia allies attempt to hit back at rebels with expulsion threat "Are they going to expel us all at once? Delia doesn't have the numbers in either the executive committee or the General Council… his own supporters have been in the party too long to even consider that the PN could face such a split to expel us all from the party."