The Nationalist Party only nominated its three representatives for talks on the drafting of a new Constitution on Saturday, despite having been invited to do so by the President last September.

While Gozitan MP Chris Said is one of the nominees as he is the PN spokesman on the Constitutional Convention – the term being used for these talks – it is not known who the other two are.

The delay in nominating the members, coupled with the fact that the Labour Party has already submitted three names whose identities have not yet been revealed, fuelled further criticism of PN leader Adrian Delia at a time when speculation is rife on the future of his leadership, a PN source said.

Only a few days ago, the PN was forced to quell speculation that Dr Delia was seeking a “dignified exit” after only a year at the helm. The claims, made by Malta Today, was made at a delicate time in the PN leader’s private life as it had just been revealed that his wife was seeking a separation.

A party spokesman described the resignation report as “absolutely not true” while adding that Dr Delia “was here to stay”.  This story was based on text messages sent by PN MP Hermann Schiavone to Dr Delia’s wife, only for the MP to say that he had been quoted out of context.

Sources close to Dr Delia insisted that the delay over the Constitutional Convention was the result of a “misunderstanding” with the Office of the President, who will be presiding over the talks.

“We only received a formal invite in writing from President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca a few days ago and will be submitting the names of the three representatives in the coming days,” a senior party official told The Sunday Times of Malta.

By the time of writing, questions officially sent to the Nationalist Party on the matter had not been answered, while a Labour Party spokesman said that any announcements would be made in due course.

A spokesman for the President’s Office declined to comment saying it was premature to do so at this stage and adding that further information would be communicated at the appropriate time. 

Despite having been part of the Labour Party’s 2013 and 2017 general election manifestos, the Constitutional Convention, whose ultimate objective is to herald Malta’s Second Republic, is yet to commence.

Dr Delia’s grip, or lack of it, on the party has been a persistent issue ever since taking over from Simon Busuttil in September last year. The matter was further compounded last July when the PN leader called on his predecessor to resign from the party in the wake of the Egrant inquiry conclusions. However, Dr Delia was forced to do a U-turn as Dr Busuttil defied his call and stayed on, with the open backing of the majority of PN MPs.

Since then, the parliamentary group has only been summoned once, last month, prompting criticism that the leadership was reluctant to face dissenting MPs.

On their part, sources close to Dr Delia insisted that there had been no point in convening the group during Parliament’s summer recess.

“During these months, the party was functioning normally with regular meetings of both the executive and administrative committees,” they said.

Meanwhile, other PN insiders who spoke on condition of anonymity expressed their frustration over what they described as the lenient approach being adopted by the party on the issue of corruption.

“Short of condoning what is going on in the country at the moment on various fronts, the party is more often than not sitting on the fence on issues which it should be openly denouncing. It seems that the leadership is being conditioned by Labour’s criticism that the PN is persisting in its negative approach,” they said.

However, a party member close to Dr Delia insists the party has to pick its battles carefully and the “the new way” promised by the leadership meant a different strategy to defeat corruption.

“Such objective can only be achieved by defeating the party in government.

“Harping on the corruption mantra day and night as the party did in the last general election is bound to fail miserably, as shown in the last general election,” he said.

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