The rift inside the PN has continued to deepen after a survey was published in MaltaToday on Sunday, with PN leader Adrian Delia promising that action will be taken against those who have dissented against him in the coming days, and with those same dissenters remaining steadfast in their calls for a new leadership election.
PN leader Adrian Delia has given his starkest warning yet to the MPs and members of his party who are rebelling against him, saying that there is no place in the party for those who are only interested in causing damage if they do not lead the party themselves.
Delia’s words were in reaction to a survey published by MaltaToday on Sunday, which found that Comodini Cachia’s trust rating when compared to Prime Minister Robert Abela runs at 13.1%, no different from Opposition leader Adrian Delia, who scored 13.2% and which saw the PN’s support dissipate further.
“One can make the argument that the survey was taken in the worst week for the PN, when a number of MPs carried out a coup against me. But I will not make that argument”, he said.
“I will only say that the moment for decisions has arrived – and maybe you are right in saying that I should have acted long ago. However, my conscience and duty required that I first do my best to welcome even those who never wanted me”, the embattled leader continued.
“Even in the PN there are those who are only interested in doing damage if they are not in command themselves. That their work is only directed at seeing survey results like that of today”, he added.
“I am going to be clear: there is no place for people like these in the PN. In the PN, there is place for everyone who is of good will”, Delia said in what is his starkest warning yet against those who have dissented against him.
“In the coming days I will act”, he said.
Delia then invited supporters to come together and make the necessary changes.
“They will attack us. They will try and dirty us. They will invent about us. But they will not scare us, and they will definitely not intimidate us”, he said in his rallying cry.
The rebel MPs meanwhile said that the results of the confirm the “urgent need” for the PN’s party members (tesserati) to be allowed to vote for a new PN leader to “piece together the mosaic within the party and get ready for the next general election”.
In a statement reacting to the results of the same survey, the group of MPs – which identified themselves as “the absolute majority” of the PN’s parliamentary group – said that they are determined for the party members to be allowed to choose a new leader for the party.
The MPs said that the survey is a sign of worry for all those who want to see a strong and serious Nationalist Party which can present a credible alternative to Robert Abela’s government which is “buried in corruption scandals”.
They said that the survey re-confirms that negative trends for the PN and for Adrian Delia, noting that the PN would lose the next election by over 80,000 votes.
The MPs said that Comodini Cachia had obtained the same results as Delia less than a week after attracting the support of the parliamentary group and without the party’s media platforms behind her.
They noted that it is was significant that while Delia doesn’t attract the support of anyone who didn’t vote in 2019, Comodini Cachia attracts 9% of that support.
“These results again confirm the urgent need for the PN’s tesserati to be called to choose a new leader who can piece together mosaic within the party and get ready for the next general election”, the statement reads.
“Failing this, unfortunately the PN will be condemned to a disastrous electoral result”, they said.
The survey, which was carried out last week by MaltaToday, found that Comodini Cachia’s trust rating when compared to Prime Minister Robert Abela runs at 13.1%, no different from Opposition leader Adrian Delia, who scored 13.2%.
The survey shows that Comodini Cachia’s trust rating among PN voters runs at 31%. Delia’s trust score among PN voters stands at 32.7%. The overall results show Abela obtaining a trust rating of 57.7% against Delia and 58.4% against Comodini Cachia.
Abela also secures the trust of 15.4% of PN voters in the last general election, in his match-up with Delia, and 17.1% of PN voters in a contest with Comodini Cachia.
The survey sees the Labour Party regaining two points and is now running at 47.8%. For the third month running, the PN continues to lose ground, and now stands at 20.8%.
MaltaToday said that an analysis of the figures suggests the gap between the parties stands around 72,000 votes.
PN deputy leader Robert Arrigo – one of Delia’s supporters within the party – in fact pounced on the result on Friday night, saying that Comodini Cachia “fell on the first hurdle”.
“This MaltaToday survey contradicts her statement that she felt that the party is now united”, Arrigo said.
Arrigo said that Comodini Cachia had asked his removal from the party months ago, and said that voting against the party is never acceptable, noting that he hadn’t even done this when the PN “adopted politics of exclusion” between 2004 and 2013.
“Adrian knowingly kept bridges open. Love or hate, attacking the party is not an option”, Arrigo said.
“Today this is now public knowledge unfortunately. There were 3 years of insider submarine attacks on the party. A real pity to the dismay of the PN voters and those newly joining.”
“The picture gets worse, as these attacks go against democracy. Ultimately Malta will suffer”, Arrigo said before adding that no faction is an island and that action beckons.
Hermann Schiavone – who was one of Delia’s staunchest supporters but was one of those MPs who voted against him and has supported Comodini Cachia – meanwhile also gave a short seven-point analysis of the survey on Sunday morning.
Schiavone said that the difference between the PN and the PL is of around 80,000 votes, and that the difference between Abela and Delia has remained at 44.5%, the same as a MISCO survey carried out last week.
Schiavone took a more optimistic view of the results than Arrigo, saying that Comodini Cachia had registered the same results as Delia despite not being PN leader.
He noted that Comodini Cachia registers better results than Delia in Gozo and the Northern region, and registers the same results as him in the Southern region. He also observes that while Delia doesn’t attract the support of anyone who didn’t vote in 2019, Comodini Cachia attracts 9% of that support.
Finally, he noted that if an election where to be held today, only just over 50% of those who voted PN in the last election will vote for PN again.