Nearly 50% of all PN paid-up members (tesserati) have submitted their votes by the second day of early voting, a PN statement by the party's Electoral Commission read.

There are 21,499 paid-up members who can vote in the election.

Incumbent party leader Adrian Delia is facing off against newcomer Bernard Grech.

Voting opened last Friday and Saturday and will also open on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The counting of votes will be on October 3.

Delia had faced strong opposition from within the party, which led to votes of no confidence against the leader, and resulted in the current leadership election.