Updated 1pm - Added video

Cliques may be hijacking the PN's leadership race, Democratic Party leader Marlene Farrugia said today.

“The election can get hijacked if the cliques do their work again. I am concerned that this is happening, and people who are speaking to me have this same concern,” she said.

Dr Farrugia said rumours were circulating in the PN that “the cliques were at it again”.

Fielding questions from reporters, Dr Farrugia said the election should be put on hold until the party's electoral system is given a shake-up.

The PD leader wants the PN's first run-off election, in which the candidates are whittled down to just two, to be taken out of the hands of party councillors and instead be handed to the party's broader membership base.  

"This is the best way to ensure the right person is chosen at this historic moment for the party and the country," she said.

A leader picked by all party members, she said, would have more moral authority.

If this was not done, however, the country would have a “one-party state with two heads” – hinting at possible cross-party manipulation of the PN leadership election.