PN MP Hermann Schiavone told The Malta Independent that he is willing to give up his seat if leadership candidate Bernard Grech is elected as the new party leader, while PN MP Mario Demarco said that his seat is not his to give away indicating that he is not interested in giving it up.

One of the PN's newest MPs, entrepreuneur Ivan J. Bartolo, has also said that he is willing to give up his seat for Grech if he is elected.  Bartolo won his seat only a few months ago through a casual election, when he replaced former PN leader Simon Busuttil, who took up a posting with the European People's Party in Brussels.

The Nationalist Party is currently looking at its third leadership election in the last seven years, with current leader Adrian Delia and lawyer Bernard Grech in what is looking like a two-horse race for the crown.

If Delia were to be elected, the PN parliamentary group will most probably not face any changes, however, if Grech were to take the post one of the PN MPs will have to give up his seat seeing that the aspiring leader holds no position in parliament.

This is a similar situation that took place during the previous leadership election race which saw Delia win against PN MP Chris Said with a 52.7% majority vote.

Since Delia was not part of the House of Representatives at the time, an existing PN MP had to offer to be replaced by the new leader and Jean Pierre Debono took it upon himself to give away his seat, saying that he is ready to make this sacrifice and give up his lifelong dream of being an MP because the party’s interests come first.

Notably, Debono was not the only one who was ready to give up his seat for the new leader. PN MP Hermann Schiavone, alongside other parliamentary members, had also expressed his interest and today he seems to be holding on to this same stance for the coming PN leadership election.

Speaking to this newsroom after being asked if he is willing to give up his seat if Grech was to be elected instead of Delia, Schiavone said he will do whatever is necessary.

“Yes, I’d be willing just as I was three years ago when Adrian was elected, wherein I had made it clear that if necessary, I will give up my seat in parliament for the best interest of the party.”

Schiavone is one of the PN MPs who has supported Delia, but had a change of heart some weeks ago when he joined 18 others in the PN’s parliamentary group by voting against Delia’s leadership.

Nonetheless, this feeling was not shared by other PN MPs contacted by The Malta Independent, including Mario de Marco.

“I was asked an identical question three years ago at the last leadership election. My answer remains identical. The seat is not mine for me to give away. I was elected by the constituents of the First District to represent them for this legislature,” de Marco said.

Similarly, PN MP Stephen Spiteri indicated that he is not ready to give up his seat. “I can recall that there are a number of MPs who are willing to offer their parliamentary seat. I think we only need one seat so basically the decision seems to be in the process. I don’t think we need another seat, no?” 

He added that there are some MPs who are willing to leave politics, saying that he has not decided on anything yet from his end.

PN MPs Claudette Buttigieg and Jason Azzopardi were also contacted, and they confirmed that the decision has already been processed, saying that the situation has already been dealt with but did not reveal any further information on the topic.

The only discrepancy came from PN MP Karl Gouder who told this newsroom “let’s wait until we get there; there is a lot of time left until then so we will see how things play out by that time.”

Various other MPs were contacted by this newsroom but could not be reached by the time this article was published.

The current impasse culminated in a vote of no confidence in the current Opposition and party leader Adrian Delia by the parliamentary group, which saw 17 rebel PN MPs, and 2 independent MPs, vote for a loss of confidence. This was followed by one at executive committee level which also saw the majority vote against having confidence in Delia’s leadership.

Nonetheless, in both instances, Delia insisted that he will not resign from his post as he was elected by the party’s tesserati (paid members) and the decision rests in their hands.

In fact, the party then opted for a General Council decision to be taken on whether Delia should keep his role as leader or if the party should go for a leadership election. The majority voted for there to be a leadership election which is another vote against Delia’s wishes, as he preferred a vote to confirm or reject his leadership.

Following this decision, there were many speculations about PN MEP Roberta Metsola and rebel PN MPs favourite Therese Comodini Cachia contesting for the role. However, after mulling over all considerations, both Metsola and Comodini Cachia announced that they will not be taking part in the race.

The other two contenders included Executive Committee Member Mark Anthony Sammut and lawyer Bernard Grech.

Sources within the PN told this newsroom that the anti-Delia Group met last Monday with all four of the potential candidates where it was decided that the four potential candidates would meet and decide between them who will be the unifying contender.

The sources said that the four met alone the following Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the way forward, and it seemed as though Bernard Grech would be the contender.

This was confirmed late last week when Grech confirmed that he would be submitting his nomination for the post of PN leader.

Grech, sources said, has a lot of support among the PN Councillors and the tesserati (paid up members), and people see him as a uniting candidate. Internal sources added that the four potential candidates sitting down to discuss the situation shows just how much they all care about the party.

The internal struggle started the moment Delia was elected to the post in 2017 with the votes of a tesserati (paid-up members), a system that was put forward and later introduced by his predecessor Simon Busuttil.

This election will be the third time in the last seven years that the PN will go through the process of naming its leader with Simon Busuttil winning in 2013 and Adrian Delia winning in 2017.