The media will not be allowed to attend the Labour Party’s extraordinary general conference on Friday, in what is seen as an attempt to keep a lid on internal issues that the PL is facing at this time.

With the PL – and the government – facing a series of resignations of people holding top positions, the last thing that is needed is for the differences in opinions set to be expressed during the conference to expose more division.

Insiders who spoke to the Malta Independent said that the media will not be invited so as to give delegates more freedom to speak up, but it is also rare, if not unprecedented, that an extraordinary general conference is not open for the media.

The insiders said that the media will be invited to attend the conference that will be held on 13-15 September to elect two deputy leaders following the resignation of Chris Fearne and Daniel Micallef.

But tonight’s activity, during which an important change to the statute will be discussed, will be held behind closed doors.

Labour is set to approve yet another change to who is entitled to contest for the post of deputy leader for party affairs. In 2020, a change in the statute had established that the position should not be open to MPs and MEPs – which had reversed a previous decision in 2016 to allow them. Now Labour is set to again open the door to MPs and MEPs to contest for the post – a u-turn of a u-turn or another u-turn.

In 2016, the change had been made to push in Konrad Mizzi to the post, but Mizzi had only last three months in the position before he resigned in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, to be replaced by Chris Cardona. But, in 2020, the position had again been closed to MPs, and this led to the election of Daniel Micallef. Now that Micallef has announced his resignation, the post is again set to be opened to MPs and MEPs, as Alex Agius Saliba is being mentioned as a possible sole candidate.

Abela’s backtracking on the move he had advocated in 2020 was possibly linked to the announcement by former secretary general Jason Micallef to contest for the post. Micallef has since withdrawn his candidacy and, instead, has been appointed as special delegate to oversee the implementation of the electoral manifesto.

The idea to change the statute has however not been accepted across the board, with Labour exponents speaking out against the move. This is what has possibly led to the party executive choosing not to open tonight’s meeting to the media.