The MLP is signalling it is introverted, not introspective

The MLP leadership issue is on the brink of becoming a purely "internal" matter. And that is not good news for the party.

Nominations for the MLP leadership contest open today; they close on Saturday. But the contest next week is not going to be about choosing the man most able to clobber the PN at the polls. It is going to be about how easily the MLP is going to patch up its internal tensions and resentments.

It will be a major surprise if the eventual contest includes anyone else besides Alfred Sant, John Attard Montalto, and Anglu Farrugia. It will be a major upset for Dr Sant if he gets less than 75 per cent of the delegates' votes. So the most interesting aspect of the contest is going to be the size of the protest vote.

That is not a good start for a party beginning another long haul in opposition. It is one thing to be introspective at a time of important strategic choices. It is quite another to be introverted.

Healthy introspection consists in having the party take a long hard look at itself - with the aim of being better able to engage the broader public's attention and interest. Introversion means that internal power struggles are taken more seriously than ordinary people's concerns.

This might seem an unfair criticism to make. Over the last three weeks, a virtual consensus has emerged in the MLP about what it needs to do in order to become a government-in-waiting. The consensus includes people like Evarist Bartolo, John Attard Montalto, Anglu Farrugia and Leo Brincat - all candidates for the top posts in the party.

This consensus meets what ordinary people think and feel. If you take away the qualifying words and phrases - the sprinkling of maybes, the self-protective usage of "in my opinion" - what these politicians are agreed upon is this: the MLP is currently perceived not to be nearly inclusive enough; it uses its media to intimidate people who publicly disagree with it; and it suffers from a credibility deficit.

Two things strike me about this consensus. First, for all practical purposes it admits that the MLP is back to where it was just after its 1992 electoral defeat - except that the physical intimidation associated with the party then has now been replaced with psychological intimidation in the party media.

Second, for the first time we are seeing senior, active MLP politicians expressing serious doubts about Dr Sant's political judgments and strategic decisions - at least with respect to those taken over the last four-and-half-years. Up till now, his qualification for leadership was his claim to know better than anyone else. Now we have his senior colleagues saying, in effect, that if the MLP wants its electoral fortunes to recover, then their leader's instincts will have to be kept under a more watchful collegial eye.

Does this consensus address ordinary people's concerns? Yes. So how come I am saying that the party is signalling that it is introverted, not introspective?

For one thing, it is being evasive on the issue of credibility. Dr Sant's stock has continued to fall since the election. The credit rating agencies have reconfirmed that they would have revised Malta's credit rating downwards had he been re-elected. More seriously, though perhaps not noticed enough, is how the US has now officially denied his claims about Malta's prospects for a "partnership" with the US.

He used to say that EU membership would hamper Malta's dealings with the US. Since the election, Beth Jones, the assistant secretary of state in charge of European affairs, has said - on the record and on Maltese TV - that EU membership will give US-Malta dealings better prospects.

In response to this credibility deficit, many senior MLP politicians are giving the public a sly kind of assurance: "Don't worry, folks - we've learnt our lesson. In future we'll keep Sant in harness. We're going to reverse some of the things he's done. Meanwhile, we understand your concerns about health, education, and job security".

The only senior person publicly saying that this would not fully restore Labour's credibility is Dr Attard Montalto, who is insisting on the need for a change in leadership. Dr Farrugia, by running for the leadership, is concurring by his actions, if not by his public words. In doing this, they are engaging with the broader public's feelings about accountability and credibility.

The rest, however, far from engaging the public's attention on these issues, are trying to deflect it.

This introverted strategy might still be enough to win the next election. But setting oneself up as an introverted party is an unnecessarily complex way of trying to extend the party's popular base.