Pierre Portelli resigned from the post of head of the Nationalist Party’s media communications section with immediate effect.
In an announcement on Facebook, Portelli said that the resignation was handed to leader Adrian Delia last week.
“ He urged me to reconsider but the events that unfolded during today's Executive Council meeting reinforced my concerns.
“Before I step down from my role of Executive Chairman at Media.Link I would like to thank all those who made the past two years worthwhile.
“Together we had some memorable moments I will cherish for the rest of my life. However, as I explained in my resignation letter to our party leader Adrian Delia there are others within the PN that need to be exposed and shamed before they destroy the party we love. I choose to do so as an outsider unshackled by an official post.
“I will always be a Malti Nazzjonalist and will do my utmost to see our party on its path to recovery to be able to offer the solutions this county needs.”
The resignation was announced after the end of a meeting of the party's executive committee, during which Delia said that he will be presenting a plan to the parliamentary group when it meets on Tuesday evening,
Portelli was thought by many to be Delia's right-hand man, with a role that went beyond the official description of head of the party's media.
In his letter to Delia, dated 14 June, Portelli said he was announcing his resignation "with a heavy heart".
"Together we forged ahead with our vision for a new way for the Nationalist Party we both love, yet the past 20 months have been marred with daily struggles, fire fighting elements within the PN who insist they have a divine right to lead and control the party and its media platforms."
In spite of the work carried out, "it is evidently clear that persevering in my role will not bring further changes due to the constant and coordinated attacks on the party and its media by some of your MPs within the parliamentary group who went as far as sustaining and aiding criminal activity by third party simply to get you out of the way."
Portelli said that he will return to the private sector in his professional capacity. "I will continue to support your (Delia's) resolve to push a new way for the PN as a Nationalist outside," Portelli wrote, urging Delia to "cleanse the party from people who continue to stall the PN in bad faith."
