Speculation is rife about the future of Adrian Delia as Opposition Leader after he lost a vote of confidence in the PN parliamentary group, but there has so far been no concrete action to oust him.
19 members of the parliamentary group, which includes the two PN MEPs, yesterday voted against Delia. 11 MPs, including Delia, voted in favour. However, in a press conference afterwards, Delia reaffirmed that he was committed to remaining opposition leader and party leader.
The vote was taken during a meeting convened to discuss claims that Delia was in contact with 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech. MPs also discussed the recent surveys which showed that the Labour government enjoys a very wide lead over the PN.
There is speculation that President George Vella could now move to relieve Delia of the Opposition Leader role and replace him with another PN MP.
But sources have confirmed that the Office of the President has so far not approached Delia or the opposing MPs.
The Malta Independent is also informed that the MPs who voted against Delia are currently assessing the situation and discussing the way forward, but have not yet approached the President.
Some 12 hours after the press conference which followed the vote, Edwin Vassallo is the only member of the parliamentary group to make a public statement, wherein he said that he was one of those who had voted in favour of Delia's leadership.
Otherwise, however, the rest of the parliamentary group has remained publicly silent.
Former PN MP Franco Debono wrote in a Facebook post that the President has a constitutional duty to look into the situation.
“The constitutional consequences after this vote are that the President is bound to remove the Opposition Leader and appoint someone else, acting under art 90(4) of the Constitution which empowers the President to remove the Opposition Leader from his role if, in the President’s judgement, he doesn’t command the support and backing of the majority of his MPs,” he said.
“The criterion is a subjective one – ‘in the judgment of the President’ and there is no hard and fast rule and in reality a President could move to act even without a vote like the one of today, however in this case the situation is very clear and the President doesn’t have much choice.”
Debono said the Constitution imposes on the President an active rather than passive role and no modalities are specified “but the spirit seems to be that where a prima facie case exists that such support might be doubtful the President has a duty to enquire into the situation by for example speaking individually to MPs and reach a judgment.”
In this case, it is very clear the Opposition Leader has lost the required support and the President’s hands are almost tied, he must remove and appoint someone else, Debono said.
According to some reports, the President has cancelled the day’s engagements and is on stand-by amid the Opposition crisis. But a source said this was not the case.
Questions were sent this morning to President Vella’s office.