Labour delegates have overwhelmingly defeated a motion to enable party members to vote in the election for a new leader on June 5.

The motion, to amend the party statute, was moved by new Labour MP Marlene Pullicino at an extraordinary MLP general conference on Friday evening, but was defeated with 165 votes in favour and 620 against.There were seven invalid votes and one abstention.

The result means that that it will be the delegates to the general conference, numbering just over 900 who will vote for a successor to Alfred Sant, who resigned in the wake of the MLP general election defeat.

The proposal to extend voting rights to party members had been made by George Abela, one of the five leadership contenders. He was present for the general conference, sitting in the front row along with the other candidates, but did not address the conference.

Dr Pullicino said at the opening of an hour-long debate before the vote was taken, said that a vote in favour of the motion would make the MLP more democratic and more inclusive. It would also mean it would have a leader with stronger authority.

Among those who spoke against were Mayors Michael Cohen (Kalkara) and Paul Farrugia (Tarxien). Mr Cohen expressed his regret that two months after the election, the MLP was still discussing how to elect its leader, when it should be holding the government to account. He argued that it would be logistically impossible to hold an election among 19,000 members in 27 days. Furthermore, while he had every respect for the members, one had to acknowledge the role which the delegates played within the party.

Mr Farrugia was given a standing ovation when he introduced his address by thanking Alfred Sant for his service. He argued that it should be the delegates who should vote for the leader because they were, after all, the delegates of the members to the general conference, in the same way as the people elected their representatives to Parliament.

MPs took decisions in Parliament on behalf of the people, and the delegates would take decisions at the general conference on behalf of the party membership, he said.

Winding up Dr Pullicino urged the delegates not to fear change, which, she said, would benefit the party.

The voting took place over three hours and vote counting started at about 11.30 p.m.

Picture: Vote counting in progress.