The Nationalist Party's parliamentary group will hold an urgent meeting today amid tensions on how voting on the divorce bill in Parliament should take place.

The group is also expected to discuss the Opposition motion on ministerial pay, due to be voted upon in Parliament on Saturday.

Today's meeting was called after an angry exchange of e-mails between Nationalist MPs yesterday morning. A number of MPs were particularly annoyed by comments given by Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to The Sunday Times where he argued that, in the wake of the referendum result, voting No in Parliament is not an option.

The PN group is divided into three, with some MPs wishing to vote Yes, some preferring to abstain, and others insisting that they should vote No, in line with their conscience.

Joseph Muscat added fuel to the raging debate yesterday, arguing that the prime minister, who had proposed the referendum in the first place, could not, now, ignore its result.

Dr Gonzi said it was unfair that MPs were being pressured to declare their vote when the final version of the Bill (after the debate in parliament) was not completed yet. He stressed however, that the will of the people as declared in the referendum would be respected. He also said that MPs were free to vote Yes, No or abstain and there would be no repercussions within the party, even though the party had taken a position against divorce.

Meanwhile, on the honoraria motion, Joseph Muscat yesterday urged the Nationalist MPs to vote according to their conscience and to translated their concerns into facts,