Labour's delegates will have a straight choice for or against the landmark proposal to have the next leaders of the party chosen by its members and by delegates after amendments calling for delaying the change until after June's election were retracted on Wednesday.
The original motion had been presented in the form of a petition by a group of delegates who took up the suggestion floated publicly by former deputy leader George Abela when he announced his candidature for the top post in March.
The petition calls on delegates to decide the matter ahead of the election for the leadership in June and, if approved, would open the voting to Labour's 19,000 members, establishing a first in Maltese political history.
Ahead of Wednesday's meeting of Labour's national executive - which decided the proceedings for tonight's extraordinary general conference - an alternative motion and two amendments to the original motion had been presented for discussion. However, they were all retracted during the meeting.
The two amendments proposed implementing the change after the June elections. The alternative motion proposed a system through which the vote of the delegates would be given more weight while still allowing all of the party's members to have their say.
Party general secretary Jason Micallef confirmed that the motions had been withdrawn by the proponents, adding that the national executive agreed unanimously on the proceedings, which should take about an hour, excluding the vote.
The alternatives (amendments and motion) were eventually dropped to give delegates a clear choice for or against.
However, Labour sources said the alternative motion, known as "the third district proposal", because of where the individuals proposing it were coming from, was retracted partly because the proponents did not want to be seen as supporting the candidature of Dr Abela with their motion.
Their proposal had been in the offing for a couple of years and when Dr Abela floated the idea publicly they were uneasy about the fact that it would be tied to his candidature.
The straight yes/no vote, in fact, might take the form of a vote for and against Dr Abela's candidature, the same sources said, whereas previously there could have been variants which diffused this aspect of tonight's conference.
Incidentally, Labour's Marsascala committee (in the third district), issued a statement yesterday saying it had nothing to do with the original proposal to be presented today.
"We also declare, with the strongest emphasis, that we were never tied to any candidate who is running for the post of leader or deputy leader. We believe that all the candidates are valid and worthy of taking up the posts they are running for."
Contacted for her comments, MP Marlene Pullicino - one of the main proponents of the petition and a supporter of Dr Abela - said she was hoping the motion would go through "because we believe that it will place the party on the political avant guarde not only in Malta but also in Europe".
She added that if it did not get approved, the fact that it had been brought to this level was already a victory. "If it is defeated it doesn't mean it's the end of the idea. It can be presented again in the future until it is accepted by the delegates," she said.