The newly-elected PN leader Adrian Delia is yet to meet with the leader of Partit Demokratiku Marlene Farrugia with whom the Nationalist Party signed a coalition before the last general election. Delia said he is enthusiastic to meet with Farrugia and described her as a colourful individual.

Speaking on INDEPTH, The Malta Independent's online programme, Adrian Delia said that on a political level, he did not agree with the coalition. However, when asked how he would deal with this situation now that he has been elected leader, Delia said that he wants to meet Farrugia to try and understand her concerns.

"I am interested in meeting Farrugia, and when I do, I want her to understand who Adrian Delia really is. So far, I have met with various individuals who might have disliked me or not supported me in the leadership race, but who have now got to know me better after meeting with me." The PD leader has already stated that her party will not be giving up a parliamentary seat for Delia and she instead offered him her kitchen chair. Farrugia has also made her cause against Delia public on Facebook.

The PN leader said that the negotiations to have a sitting MP relinquish a parliamentary seat for him are ongoing and have intensified over recent days. Delia was not ready to commit on a deadline by which this parliamentary seat issue is resolved. Questioned by The Malta Independent news editor Rachel Attard, Delia said that Joseph Muscat had the luxury of almost three months to find an MP who would be willing to give his seat. "At this stage, the dates are not important. All I care about is having a serious process, not a hasty one. It would be very imprudent to come up with a date when negotiations are still ongoing," he added.

"We have to understand that this is a very delicate process which involves an elected MP giving up his seat," Delia said when pressed on the issue.

Media reports have suggested that Delia is finding it very hard to find a PN MP to concede his seat to the new leader. When asked about this, Delia said that the media reports were not always correct: "I know for sure that in certain cases, these MPs were approached before I spoke to them personally."

Delia is confident that the issue will be resolved in time for him to address Parliament during the Opposition's reply to the Budget Speech.