Independence Day activities
The PN has likely dodged a bullet by not hosting major Independence Day activities this year.
PN Secretary General Francis Zammit Dimech told that no traditional mass meeting or rally will be held on the eve of Independence Day, citing COVID-19 restrictions as the reason.
The usual mass activities cost money to set up, money which the party might want to save given the general election in two years’ time. In addition, the party could potentially hold a fund raising marathon which would mean that it would bring in funds without spending as much as it normally would.
But that would not have been the main concern for the party should the activities have had to go ahead as normal this year. Support for the PN is low, very low. Add to that the divide within the party and the internal power struggle and one would have been looking at a very empty Floriana Granaries. That would not look good on television and it would not look good politically.
This could have been quite an embarrassing moment for the Nationalist Party.
While Independence Day celebrations used to be a huge occasion in the past, the scale of activities has dwindled down over recent years. The number of party supporters attending the PN events over the past few years have grown smaller and smaller.
More recently the PN has held such celebrations at a smaller venue, the area in front of its headquarters in Pieta`, but this has just been a sign of weakness for the PN.
In addition, it is very possible that the PN’s internal leadership race would still be on, and thus what would have then been the solution had there not been COVID-19? Have both the leader and contenders speak to a divided crowd? That would have likely led to animosity between the two groups in the crowd.
Indeed it is as yet unclear as to what the official activities for this year’s Independence Day will be, but it will likely not be a show of strength that the party would normally want to portray. Indeed, the party leader might still speak, but this would probably be in a televised format.
Aside from the internal PN problems, Independence Day this year could end up being overshadowed by other news items, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, more developments in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination investigation and the MONEYVAL test which would likely be making headlines around that time.
Should the leadership race conclude before Independence Day, then some might see the possibility of the event serving as a unifying call for PN supporters – even if in an altered format due to COVID-19, but in reality it is doubtful that this would be the case. Both in terms of the leadership election concluding by that time, and also in terms of it serving as a unifying event.
There is too much animosity between those who support Delia and those who don’t for there to be a quick heal after this election comes to a close.