PN will not commission a report into landslide general election defeat
The Nationalist Party will not be commissioning a report into the landslide general election loss, a PN spokesperson has confirmed.
Sources had previously informed The Malta Independent that Busuttil does not feel that there is need for such a report, as the party has already identified what mistakes were made during the last campaign.
The Labour Party won the general election with a margin of 35,280 votes over the Nationalist Party, which was slightly larger than that obtained four years ago, when the win was obtained with a 35,107 margin. In 2013, the party appointed a special commission to analyse the election defeat.
That report found that public perception of a clique running the party, arrogance, the lack of decisions taken in Parliament, the inefficiency of Mepa, the failure of the public service reform, the way the party tackled the divorce issue, irregular migration issues, the lack of use of independent media, hunting problems and the Valletta City Gate project all contributed to the party’s defeat.
It also criticised the PN’s election campaign which was described as being too negative, and for failing to explain its electoral programme.
One of the authors of the report, Simon Mercieca, who refrained from divulging the finer details of the report, told The Malta Independent that it was conducted in a transparent manner, free from any form of interference, but believed that a majority of the recommendations were ignored, particularly with regards to reform of the administration.
It was for this reason that he believed that the PN were reluctant to commission a report.
“When a party loses an election when it is in government, you can point to a number of issues that would have affected the result. However, when a party loses an election when in opposition, it is usually issues with the administration of the party itself.
“The party should have the strength to commission a report, in order to analyse the situation and provide the party with a sense of direction.”
A PN spokesperson explained that a report does not necessarily need to be commissioned after every general election.
Asked as to how the margin was able to grow in four years, in light of the scandals facing the current government, Mercieca said that the report indicated that there were signs that the election loss in 2013 could have been greater.
Mercieca said he has already begun to see the content of the report being included into the proposals of the PN Leadership contenders.
“Alex Perici Calascione has just proposed returning the AZAD Centre in Valletta to a centre of political thought. This was in the 2013 report.”
Mercieca maintained that the Nationalist Party still had time to reorganise and provide a substantial challenge in the next general election; however he also hinted that the PN should rediscover its conservative roots, in order to mobilise the presently silent majority on the island.