Delia’s problems still lie within

Cinema and music offer many examples of situations when things could have worked differently and a decision or action taken at a given time comes back to haunt the person involved. The film Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, is one perfect example of how life can take a completely altered path simply by catching or missing a train. George Michael’s ‘A different corner’ speaks of what could have been if he had turned left instead of right.

Former Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil must still be regretting the decision he made – and which he proposed and which was implemented – to extend voting for his successor to the party’s paid-up members, rather than limiting the choice to its councillors.

Were it not for this ‘sliding doors’ moment, the Nationalist Party would have possibly turned ‘a different corner’ and Adrian Delia would now not be its leader. This doubt will continue to pester Busuttil for years to come. It is no wonder that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took the opportunity to use his

Sunday morning radio interview to mock Busuttil for having been beaten by Delia.

Delia’s leadership of the PN has been rocky right from the start, simply because the old guard, the top people who have militated in the party for years, never accepted the fact that Delia came from outside the ranks to take over the helm. For the past 22 months, Delia has been forced to dedicate more time to dealing with internal issues, meaning that the Opposition could not focus on keeping tabs on what the government was doing as much as it should have, and as such is seen as having been deficient in its constitutional duties.

The pressure increased further after the MEP and local elections last May, which ultimately led to last Saturday’s extraordinary general council session, with a vote giving Delia the approval of two-thirds of the councillors.

But this does not mean his problems are over. While two-thirds of the councillors backed Delia in Saturday’s vote, he does not have the same support within the parliamentary group. Just the fact that more or less two-thirds of the PN MPs were not present in the hall last Saturday– both in the morning when the voting was still taking place, and in the evening when the results were known – is indicative of the way Delia is seen by a sizeable part of the group.

We said last week that Saturday’s vote, whichever way it went, would not change things overnight. Given the reaction after the vote, the situation has remained more or less the same.

In his speech after being confirmed as leader, Delia – again – opened the doors wide for all those people who want to give a helping hand to the Nationalist Party. But it is clear that his detractors are not reaching out to bridge the gap. Delia’s main internal adversaries – including Busuttil, Jason Azzopardi and Karol Aquilina – remain too distant. It’s unlikely that, in spite of their defeat last Saturday, they will shut up and toe the line.

There is one issue that should be kept in mind. Social media today provides many insights into what people are thinking, and since Saturday there have been many traditional PN supporters who are saying that they will abstain in the next election.

Their idea is that the abstention would be a message that they cannot accept Delia as their leader, in the hope that a(nother) massive defeat would signal the end of his tenure. But, by abstaining, the individual candidates who will suffer the most are likely to be those who have put spokes in Delia’s wheels. Delia’s supporters and other PN voters will probably not give their preference to candidates who, in their eyes, made life hard for their leader.

But it is, of course, too early to say what the situation will be in 2022. Many things can change between now and the election. Who knows, by then the anti-Delia group would have moved aside or formed, maybe joined, another party.

It is another sliding doors situation.