Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1290275
3 PAUL COCKS SUPPORTERS of Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia are bouyed by recent surveys show- ing him gaining ground on his opponent Bernard Grech as he struggles to hang on to his lead- ership. Grech started his campaign with an insurmountable lead, but the Delia campaign's weekly surveys are showing And while some believe that Bernard Grech's lead over De- lia is insurmountable, others are optimistic that Delia could edge in a very slight win in two weeks' time. Delia's election team has been commissioning weekly or bi-weekly surveys among party members, with their latest data showing Grech leads with 51.5% and Delia at 38.5%, with 11% of voters undecided. The surveys – which are not carried out by Mediatoday – were commissioned by an exter- nal pollster. "Grech started with nearly a 30-point lead on Delia and un- decided voters at 19.8%," De- lia campaign sources said, who were buoyed by the Opposition leader's performance yesterday on his tax affairs after giving journalists a run-down of his debts, revenues and tax arrears. "If you split the undecided equally across both candidates, Grech stands at 56% and Delia at 44%," a campaign aide said. Bernard Grech yesterday insist- ed on Net FM that his tax affairs had been put into place with a final settlement with the Com- missioner of Tax after having announced his candidature, but refused to explain why he had not paid tax in the past and had an assessment issued twice for his unpaid dues. "Today this is case closed," Grech declared on Net FM, despite not having an- swered detailed questions from MaltaToday on why he had not paid his taxes. "I will give that information to the tax authori- ties… the leak to the newspapers is not the full picture, which the tax authorities do have." The PN's due diligence com- mittee this week issued a report in which it passed an unclear verdict of the two candidates, based on open sources and me- dia reports. "Were it not for the press reports on Grech's tax matters, the committee might not have been in a position to refer to his past failures to pay income tax and VAT." Grech settled his dues on the same day that he applied to be considered for the leadership election, with the due diligence report acknowledging that he failed to fully report his financial situation when interviewed by the committee. Surveys still show Grech clear- ly enjoying a healthy majority in Nationalist strongholds in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th districts covering, among others, Sliema, St Julian's, Naxxar, San Gwann, Swieqi, Attard and Mosta. Grech's lead in the 10th district alone peaked at 77% two weeks ago, though this fell to 73% in last week's survey. Delia, on the other hand, edg- es Grech in the South with a slight majority in the 1st to 4th districts. In the 6th, 7th and 8th districts, the survey results have been hovering quite steadily in the 55%-45% in favour of Grech. And in Gozo, although Grech started with a clear lead of around 65%, the last survey shows the district evenly split among the two candidates. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS Delia aides say numbers look good