A new approach for the PN - Michael Asciak

Any political party that works under the hubris of a large electoral loss is simply wasting its time. The writing has been on the wall these past three years, namely that, with Adrian Delia as leader of the Nationalist Party, many PN supporters are voting with their feet.

Vide the European Parliament election results, the local councils’ election result and Delia’s personal poll rating of 11%. The same electoral result is in store for the next general election – Labour with all its mismanagement and corruption is heading for another resounding victory!

The fault lies with ourselves as an opposition. Delia always had too many skeletons in his cupboard to be trusted by a wide swathe of the electorate. I cannot say that he did not try but trying and oratory skills are not enough. To make matters worse, Delia committed several gross mistakes and errors of judgement. No self-respecting leader would stay in office after the main organs of the party, namely the parliamentary group, the executive committee and the general council, voted strongly against him remaining as party leader.

If Delia had an iota of respect he would have stepped down. I wonder who he thinks he is going to work with if he is re-elected? Having none of that good sense he was forced to submit himself to a new leadership race which will be decided by the party members.

If there is something all party members agree on, it is that we are going to lose the next election in a big way. Some are content to accept their fate because three years ago party members took a democratic decision and they feel they are bound by that decision – even if it means that we will lose the next election by a landslide. They feel that this is a matter of destiny.

Many in the PN, however, have a different concept of destiny. They believe that destiny is also in our own hands to a significant degree and to the choices we make in life, because many of us have a dynamic concept of destiny. Providence sustains a dynamic relationship between what God wants for us and what we are able to do for ourselves.

We know that what God wants for us all is good but we have our free will to also partake in our decisions to choose what for us is also good. What for us is good must be based on virtue theory, our choice of virtue over vice, good over evil. To choose good above wrong is Aristotle’s first law of virtue.

I used to think that for a political party the most outstanding value is unity. It is an important value, without which a political party may not be elected. However, should it be the foremost value? I realise now the foremost value should always be virtue, namely that a party makes good decisions in line with the values it believes in.

Unfortunately, Delia has several issues with virtue. His baggage, his handling of certain affairs with members and past leaders, his nonchalance with respect to the wishes of the party’s main organs and his own personal behaviour do not tally with virtuous behaviour.

His falling out with Daphne Caruana Galizia, his conflicts with his predecessor and his messages to Yorgen Fenech have all contributed to his unpopularity and the present difficult state of affairs. Many PN supporters and members say that as long as he is leader they will not vote at an election.

A similar situation existed in the UK Labour Party when it elected Jeremy Corbyn as its leader. Notwithstanding the mess the Conservative Party was in, it was obvious to all that Corbyn would lose the election and lose heavily he did.

Today, PN leadership candidate Bernard Grech offers us a new beginning, a way out of the impasse, the quagmire, we now find ourselves in and the possibility of working virtuously towards the goal of a new approach. One that will ultimately lead to results because, as Eddie Fenech Adami used to tell me, you can have the best statutes and political ideas in place but unless you are elected to government it all means very little.

Michael Asciak is a member of the PN executive committee