A race to the bottom

Owen Bonnici (Minister for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government.)

Like an exhausted traveller, the Nationalist Party limps after 12 catastrophic years in opposition. Following the heavy defeat in 2013, the PN chose not to change - with fatal electoral consequences since then.

Last week, Adrian Delia and Alex Borg debated each other on NET TV. It was almost a physical discomfort to watch them. The air felt heavy, and the atmosphere was tense - the vacancy for the 4th PN leader since 2013 is toxic. It was a stark reminder of a political party afflicted by personal feuds.

The leadership contenders expect the electorate to reward their party for the gross incompetence it demonstrated since the dying years of the Gonzi administration, when inflation soared, water and electricity prices wreaked havoc, government bureaucracy was the order of the day, foreign direct investment reached historic lows, jobs were lost, and political instability was a recurring theme. Since 2013, the electorate has seen a Nationalist Party without an authentic sense of purpose.

The absolute majority of those who followed the leadership debate would have felt a sense of déjà vu; the rhetoric was familiar, grand promises, big talk, but then nothing changes. The debate, though scripted, turned out to be a nasty encounter between two men who were once friends. Alex Borg has, in the recent past, described Adrian Delia as his 'mentor', and on many occasions, Delia spoke highly of Borg. Now they are bitter rivals. 

The current PN leadership election is on course to become a replica of the 2017 one between Adrian Delia and Chris Said - a textbook case of a bitter election campaign, with its outcome resulting in unprecedented political chaos from which the PN has not yet recovered. 

Two out of three recent polls indicate that Alex Borg has a better chance of winning over his rival; however, Borg and Delia both trail substantially Prime Minister Robert Abela in trust ratings.

I am not surprised. For years now, the Nationalist party has been besieged by internal fighting.  The PN failed to carve out a vision for itself and the country. Its extremist elements, who feast on vitriol, do as they please. Its challenge is existential, to the extent that it is unable to answer the most basic of questions: What does PN stand for? The last 12 years have shown that it stands for chaos, confusion, and bitter internal rivalry. 

Over the years, a small but powerful faction within the Nationalist Party called the shots and now has the PN entirely by its neck. The PN establishment is made up of a handful of MPs who feel superior to their own colleagues and the Labour Party and that the PN has a divine right to govern.

They are aided and abetted by fellow travellers in some of Malta's old and conservative institutions. In 2019, they threw Delia overboard, and now some of them have had their Damascene moment and are supporting his leadership bid, whilst the rest are behind the Borg campaign. They know, however, that whatever the outcome from the PN leadership election, their hold on the party shall only get tighter and that whoever, within the party, tries to put spokes in their wheels shall be politically neutralized for theirs is, always, the last word. They are the PN's albatross and the primary reason why the PN is unable to claw back from the hole that they themselves dug deeply.

Alex Borg is making proposals, such as addressing the pre-1962 pensions anomaly system and equity sharing, which have long been implemented by the Labour government. PN activists have accused him, quite rightly, of lacking political substance.  

On his part, Adrian Delia focuses his entire campaign on the usual political bickering, lashing out at the government and at his political rival, Alex Borg. Delia does not know better. 

He reminds people of the deeply confused and conflicted short-lived leadership, and like a second-hand car salesman, he is trying to sell back the car to the very same owner who gave it away in disgust. Delia comes with way too much baggage.  

The best he could come up with was the rehashed idea of a cafeteria at the Nationalist Party headquarters, whilst PN supporters are crying out for radical changes. 

No wonder thousands of PN voters have deserted their party, whilst scores of party members have resigned their membership because of their deep dissatisfaction with a fully dysfunctional Nationalist Party.  

They tell you that there is no hope of recovery before the party purges itself of its extremist faction but then they realise that it cannot happen - because both Borg and Delia are under the tight, suffocating, grip of the establishment.  

Since 2013, the PN has travelled down a political cul-de-sac, turning off voters with its politics of finger-pointing and division. Adrian Delia and Alex Borg clearly want to conserve the status quo, whilst the people expect fundamental changes within the PN. The party needs a reckoning with itself, but it prefers to look the other way.

As Malta's progressive party, Labour is where the electorate turns to when they believe that things can only get better. They have been doing so since 2013, and they still see Labour as Malta's best option. This places a huge responsibility on us, as a government and as a party, to continue implementing the changes that people want for a better Malta. Nothing gives us more satisfaction than being a better version of ourselves, for the good of the country and people.