When reading the many comments about the upcoming vote within the Nationalist Party, I got the impression that many are approaching it in a personal manner and with an attitude that is more akin to football fanaticism rather than with serenity, objectivity and an awareness based on facts.   

So, what are the facts out there? Adrian Delia is the legitimate leader of the Nationalist Party. He was elected according to the rules applicable at the time. He promised a ‘New Way’ that would restore the party to its former glory. 

Equally, the general councillors who presented the motion against him had every right to do so in terms of the party’s statute.    

Over these past two years, Delia has exerted absolute control over the party, its organs and its media. He could have used that power to positively transform the party and reposition it for the future. 

He faced certain internal opposition, mainly on social media, yet, with the tools and party apparatus at his disposal, it is fair to say that he had every opportunity to implement his ‘New Way’.

Rather than focus on personalities and reason things out fanatically, much as we tend to do every four years during the World Cup, what the party councillors should do is look at the bigger picture and ask a few sharp yet pertinent questions. 

What is the ‘New Way’? Have the councillors understood what it means, besides propaganda? 

Is alienating a portion of the party’s electorate by labelling them as ‘establishment’ and ‘elitist’ part of the ‘New Way’? 

Is destroying team spirit by closing off the party and its structures to anyone critical part of the ‘New Way’? Is the disappearing act performed by the party, instead of serving as an effective opposition, also part of this new strategy, or does the strategy prefer dancing to Joseph Muscat’s tune by trying to humiliate a former party leader, without even having seen a copy of the relevant report?  

Do you honestly think that this invisible ‘New Way’ has any future?

And who represents the ‘New Way’? Is it the serial manipulators of internal party processes within the party, who seem to enjoy impunity? Or is it those who devised the “brilliant” strategy that destroyed the party’s reputation as a champion of free speech by demonising the media? Or perhaps those who thought it was a good idea to meet certain businesspeople bang in the middle of a national controversy? Do you really think that anyone in his or her right mind will consider a party that permits such internal abuse and incompetence, while still in opposition, as a credible alternative government? 

Have you ever heard of a family exchanging an incompetent fraudster for another one?         

Is that the ‘New Way’ you voted for? Is that the ‘New Way’ people are meant to embrace? Is that the vision the party is offering? Do you honestly think that this will win the party any new votes? 

Do you honestly feel that, with such haphazard decision-making, there is a chance for the party to increase its electoral fortunes? Do you honestly think that this invisible ‘New Way’ of sorts has any future?    

The recent elections have unequivocally delivered a verdict on what the wider electorate thinks about the ‘New Way’. They have discarded it, brutally and decisively. But not only that. 

Not only has the wider electorate given a clear and unequivocal thumbs-down to the idea, but even the party’s own electorate has opted to give a very clear message about it by voting in a very specific manner. Do you think that we can solve this by demonising those who did not vote or those who voted in a particular manner, as some ‘New Way’ exponents have done? 

You, as councillors, have a very grave responsibility. Do you think that the ‘New Way’ has been successful? Do you think that the ‘New Way’ has improved the party and increased its electoral chances? Do you think that the PN family has grown and has started to forge the necessary alliances with Malta’s society at large? Do you think that the party has been reformed? Do you see any progress beyond the propaganda? Do you see new people and new policies emerging from the party? 

Ultimately, do you believe that the ‘New Way’ has a chance of winning the next elections? 

That is what you need to answer, not whether you should blindly support your favourite team or player at the next World Cup. That is why you are a councillor… to act maturely, sensibly and in the better interests of the party and its future, not out of pique or because of your personal likes and dislikes. The party’s future is in your hands. Indeed, the nation’s future is in your hands.