Comments made by the PN leader’s ‘kitchen cabinet’ and secretary general Clyde Puli caused an internal backlash, especially among loyal supporters, party sources told Times of Malta.
In trying to justify the largest defeat ever suffered by any PN leader, Mr Puli said on NET TV the party had managed to do better than the surveys indicated before the election.
“When we worked together, we managed to narrow the gap predicted by the surveys and if this continues we can achieve more results in two years’ time,” he said.
Referring to a survey published by the General Workers Union’s weekly, It-Torċa, in November 2017, Mr Puli said the indications were a gap of more than 75,000 votes for Labour. He deemed it positive that the difference in votes won by the two large parties stood at 42,000 votes.
Social media websites reporting Mr Puli’s statement were inundated with comments lashing out at him for his “illogical and puerile” justifications and others, particularly, Labour supporters, poked fun at him.
“One would understand people like Clyde (Puli) and Pierre (Portelli) trying to save their skin and livelihood after such a disaster. However, it is very insulting to make such stupid arguments, thinking all PN supporters are dumb,” a member of the party’s general council said.
An executive committee member remarked that the party seemed to have been hijacked by a very small pool of people “who also control [Adrian] Delia”.
He added that, rather than “vanishing, because it is quite obvious the PN cannot move on with them, they were using the party’s machine, including the media, to try to remain in control”.
We have a parliamentary group that is not happy with their leader
“How someone at the helm can compare an electoral result to a survey instead of a similar electoral poll beats me.”
Referring to Mr Puli’s comments, a female Nationalist councillor said she could not understand why one should compare an electoral result to a survey rather than a similar result.
Dr Delia has already declared he would not be stepping down and PN councillors have reportedly started an initiative to raise 150 signatures from among general council members to force a vote of confidence in the leader.
It could not be ascertained on Tuesday what kind of response had the initiative received so far and neither who was behind it.
Although many supporters of Dr Delia defend him publicly and want him to stay until the general election, a long-standing party member said they too admitted privately that the party was unlikely to win any election with its present leadership.
“The problem is not only Delia. It’s all those in the key positions who love themselves and their personal interests more then the party,” he said.
“We have a parliamentary group that is not happy with their leader but whose members fear a challenge as they are more interested in keeping their cosy seat,” another remarked.