Adrian Delia was reconfirmed leader of the Nationalist Party by two-thirds of the valid votes of the elected party councillors who cast their vote at the party’s General Council.
The renewed mandate for Delia to lead the Nationalist Party until the forthcoming general election in three years’ time was given despite his failure to make significant inroads into solving the problems preventing the party from being electable.
Not to mention the haemorrhage of votes suffered by the party that resulted in a catastrophic electoral defeats in the European and local council elections, when the party obtained the lowest vote percentage of votes since 1951 and lost one of its three MEP seats.
By electing Roberta Metsola and David Casa as the PN MEPs with a combined total of 60 per cent of the party’s vote tally, PN voters conveyed a strong message to Delia and his close ranks that they are becoming increasingly incapable of mobilising their own party supporters.
There were also many PN supporters who expressed their discontent with the party’s leadership either by abstaining from voting or else voting for a third party, while many of those who voted for PN candidates did so reluctantly, with their vote intended to be more of an anti-Labour than pro-Nationalist one.
When Delia entered the political scene out of nowhere two years ago and decided to contest for the party leadership, doubts were raised about his suitability for the position.
Both the party’s Administrative Council and his predecessor Simon Busuttil had made calls for him to pull out of the leadership race after he had failed to give a satisfactory explanation for money in an offshore bank account that he opened in Jersey in February 2001 and closed in October 2004.
The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit had asked the police to investigate whether this account was actually used for the laundering of money coming from a London-based prostitution racket.
Delia was nonetheless elected party leader by a slim majority. He has now been reconfirmed by the party councillors themselves, but an existing division within the PN has been nonetheless exposed with a third of these councillors opting for Delia’s removal as party leader.
If it is any consolation, in his reconfirmation speech, Delia came out with a conciliatory message to those who showed distrust in him. While this could be taken as a sign of goodwill on his part, he has now got to “walk the talk” as stated by party veteran Louis Galea who was appointed by Delia himself to oversee a party reform aimed at creating a united party.
Galea appears to enjoy the trust of the party’s executive committee consisting of both pro- and anti-Delia members.
Delia’s promised new way of doing politics has so far spelled out a continued decrease in party support size. To win the trust and support of party members, traditional PN voters and the wider national electorate, Delia needs to back his promises of good party governance with meaningful actions.
The party must show an unequivocal commitment to fight the corruption that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government is mired in. It also needs to present sound proposals on issues that are negatively impacting the physical health and quality of life of the people.
The PN must waste no more time in finding its feet
Foremost among these are the effects of the free-for-all construction regime and the air pollution coming mainly from car exhaust fumes making Malta the third worst in Europe in this regard.
So far, Delia has deepened the existing rift within the party instead of making a genuine effort to build bridges. One mistake that resulted in the open rejection of Delia was when, on the advice of a small group of inner-circle friends and advisers, he made an evident effort to rid himself of his predecessor Simon Busuttil by demanding his suspension from the party’s parliamentary group.
This miscalculated step by Delia served to continue turning away genuine party supporters who hold Busuttil in high esteem particularly for his admirable stand against allegations of corruption by high echelons of the Labour government.
It is to Busuttil’s credit that three magisterial inquiries were opened into allegations of financial crimes committed by senior officials in the Office of the Prime Minister after the police failed to investigate.
Given Delia’s questionable past conduct, it was a gross absurdity on his part to strip Busuttil of his portfolio of Opposition spokesperson for good governance and assume this role himself.
Delia’s hasty decision to get Busuttil out of the way has proved very costly to him and the party.
Faced with a possible rebellion within the party that could result in his eventual ousting, Delia showed his weakness as a leader by backing down on his resignation call to Busuttil, even if, by then, his action had already bred bad blood within the party.
If Delia really wants to show his goodwill and try to earn back some of the confidence of those people whom he has hurt through his attempt to eliminate a party stalwart like Busuttil, he should put his pride aside and ask him to take back his former portfolio – which he is certainly more suitable to hold than he is.
Secondly, Delia should stop imitating Prime Minister Joseph Muscat by protecting his close friends and justifying their wrongdoings even if it means inviting ridicule.
While treating Busuttil with an iron hand, Delia showed his inconsistency by condoning party general secretary Clyde Puli who declared in an online post just two weeks before the last general election that the owner of Egrant was in fact the Prime Minister’s wife.
Delia absolved Puli on the basis of the ridiculous argument that he did not have the same available information as Busuttil.
There were other assiduous supporters of Delia within the party whose behaviour has raised serious concerns about their political values, including Kristy Debono and Hermann Schiavone, who were discovered to have met Tumas Group CEO and Electrogas investor Yorgen Fenech at his office in Portomaso Tower.
Yet, Delia said that he saw nothing wrong with this meeting. Schiavone, who had suspended himself from the PN parliamentary group after his meeting with Fenech, has now been reinstated by the party.
If the country is to continue on the right path as a democratic State, it is essential that it has a strong Opposition that holds the government responsible for its actions. This makes it important for the PN not to waste any more time in finding its feet.
Party reformist Louis Galea has made it clear that he will be simply taking the horse to the water, and not making it drink. The ball is now in Delia’s court.
Denis Tanti is a former assistant director (industrial and employment relations) at the Ministry for Health.