Shaken and stirred by a statute that has created a more complex process for choosing its leader than any other devised by any liberal democratic party anywhere, the Nationalist Party has now settled on two candidates.
One is the current leader, Adrian Delia who, given his murky financial dealings and his apparent association with the notorious Yorgen Fenech, may actually be deemed ineligible to stand for re-election to the leadership if the curious ‘due diligence’ process under the statute is followed to the letter.
The other candidate is: Who?! A complete unknown, by the name of Bernard Grech, he was first talent-spotted by Malta Today in November 2018. He supported Adrian Delia for the PN leadership in 2017. A small family advocate, he describes himself as “a village lawyer”.
The phrase is not new. Daphne Caruana Galizia had once snobbishly described Eddie Fenech Adami on his election as party leader as “merely a village lawyer”. Fenech Adami became probably the most successful of Malta’s post-war prime ministers and a PN giant. There is a similar calculated modesty about Grech, which plays well both with the Nationalist Party and possibly more widely.
For PN – desperate for electoral survival let alone success – Grech reminds them of the glory days of Fenech Adami, to whom he bears a passing physical resemblance. Never previously involved in any political party and, until now, never having contested an election, he has risen without trace.
Throughout his life, Grech has been involved in voluntary work with youths and the disabled. He regards himself as a mediator, an essential skill in politics. His participation in panel discussions on television and radio has attracted attention from PN supporters because he speaks calmly and expresses himself precisely. He is well grounded and down to earth.
In the leadership election, he is the unity candidate in a deeply fragmented party, even going so far as to pledge that if he wins “the door [will be] open to Delia [with] a unifying role within the party”. He outflanked the more obvious names touted for the leadership, such as Therese Comodini Cachia and Roberta Metsola, and forced those adamantly opposed to Delia to unite behind him.
His language since the electoral process started has deliberately appealed to all political wings, even on deeply divisive issues. No bad thing. But at some point, he will have to show he also possesses a ruthless streak, an absolute requirement in politics.
Bernard Grech is the unity candidate in a deeply fragmented party- Martin Scicluna
He blames the current state of PN rather simplistically on its lack of vision after leading Malta into the European Union in 2004, overlooking the electoral attractions of the economic sea-change which has occurred in the last decade.
If – as seems likely – Grech is elected PN leader and leader of the opposition in late September, the paramount question will be whether he has the personality, guile and skill to win a general election due within 20 months. Will he be viewed as electable by the majority of Maltese voters at the ballot box, not simply the party faithful?
The last ‘trust’ opinion poll in July by Malta Today gave Prime Minister Robert Abela the support of about 58 per cent against just 13 per cent for Delia (or another PN candidate). About a quarter of those polled supported none of the party leaders. The electoral hill which Grech must climb as PN leader is formidable.
But much has changed since the July opinion poll was taken. Notably, Prime Minister Robert Abela made a botched, if not reckless, attempt to reopen the economy by moving from a carefully controlled, largely COVID-free society to one which was instantly declared open for business with the world.
The result was to lower Malta’s psychological and physical guard against the virus as people were given the misleading message that the virus was a thing of the past. An instant spike in the COVID-19 national infection rate led last week to Malta’s rolling 14-day average of new coronavirus cases reaching 74.8 per 100,000 of population – the worst in Europe according to data compiled by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Malta, together with France, Belgium and the Netherlands, has been placed on the list of countries where travellers now face quarantine restrictions before being allowed to re-enter the United Kingdom. Malta’s greatest source of tourists will now be deterred from coming because they face 14-day quarantine on return. Ireland, Estonia and others had already blacklisted Malta.
Governments lose popularity when their reputation for competence is destroyed. Abela has failed to strike the right balance between protecting those groups in our society most vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic and his aim of getting the economy moving again. Tragically for Malta, his overconfidence has led him to take hasty, unwise and risky decisions. His government may now pay a heavy price for his hubris.
In political terms, the crucial question is whether PN, unified behind Grech – a completely fresh face to Maltese politics – can inspire all wings of the party (including the self-entitled ‘intelligentsia’) to rally to Religio et Patria at this late stage in the electoral cycle against a government which is so far ahead in the polls.
Has Grech got the ability to coax back into the PN camp thousands of party voters who have abandoned it in the last 10 years? Most importantly, in the months remaining, is he able to persuade the Maltese electorate to give PN another chance to govern in 2022?
The next general election is still up for grabs.