This PN’s leadership campaign is unlike any other. Its idiosyncrasies are too many to list, but if you add a campaign during a pandemic and an incumbent whose number one fan is the party in government, it makes this truly a unique cocktail.
I’ll focus on one issue that both are rallying on – unity. Adrian Delia is sporting għaqda b’lealtà (unity through loyalty) while Bernard Grech is branding ningħaqdu, niġġeddu, nirnexxu (reunite, renew, succeed). The candidates have more in common. They are almost the same age, both lawyers (almost an inescapable fixation for the PN), are relatively new to the political scene, and have the gift of the gab. But that’s about form.
This election needs to be about content and one important question beckons on the tesserati (party members) – how will unity be achieved?
Unity is what will enable the Nationalist Party to become an effective political party again, able to field valid candidates that can deliver with competence, diligence and integrity, if the party is ever elected to office again.
Unity is what will restore collegiality within a dysfunctional parliamentary group, a fragmented youth movement, and a disillusioned electorate that finds (or used to find) in the PN a credible alternative to the Labour Party.
Unity is what will enable party structures to work in harmony, in coordination with the recently established clusters, the shadow cabinet and stakeholders, to formulate policies for the upcoming electoral manifesto.
The two candidates know this, but they have different approaches to obtaining it.
Every time he is asked by journalists, Adrian Delia almost refuses to consider the possibility of defeat.
This in itself is worrying.
What stands before the tesserati is not only the choice of leader but the future of the Nationalist Party- George Vidal Zammit
Whereas resilience is an admirable trait, delusion is worrying and self-defeating. He has already made it clear that MPs who do not toe his line cannot remain in the party.
How that will work out remains to be seen. But this position in itself is an omen of what awaits the party in the coming weeks if Delia is confirmed. When this happens, the schism will be inevitable and the party will be flirting with oblivion.
Unity for Bernard Grech is the be-all and end-all of his campaign. When asked how he will achieve it, he reaffirms his will to enter into a dialogue with all those that can make it happen. His route is uphill too. No matter what the margin will be, Grech has to walk the bridge with those who did not vote for him and who consider Delia’s ousting as an undeserved betrayal.
If he wins, he needs to make sure that Adrian Delia is not humiliated and his supporters not alienated.
The stamperija needs to become again a point of focus, where minds and hearts convene, where (quoting Robert Schuller) hopes not hurts shape the party’s future.
It is clear that the two candidates agree on the goal. But it is also clear that their method will be different. Never as this time have the tesserati been faced with such a crucial decision.
What stands before them is not only the choice of leader but the future of the Nationalist Party.
George Vital Zammit is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy.