No changes at the top
Both major political parties will not have a change of leadership after the election.
The last time that the leader of the losing party was not substituted was in 2003, the year of the European Union membership referendum too, when Alfred Sant had stayed on as Labour Party leader. After winning that election, Eddie Fenech Adami had also remained as Nationalist Party leader, although he had resigned the post a year later in 2004 and was named President of the Republic.
Since then, on three occasions we had a change of leadership on the side of the losing party soon after the election was held. Alfred Sant resigned in 2008 and was replaced by Joseph Muscat.
Lawrence Gonzi had resigned in 2013 to be replaced by Simon Busuttil, who then quit after leading the PN to another defeat in 2017. Busuttil had been replaced by Adrian Delia.
It was clear right after the results of the 26 March election that there would not have been a change in the leadership of either of the two major parties. After all, both of them have been at the helm of their respective party for a short time, since 2020.
The circumstances, of course, are different. The Labour Party is on a roll of victories, having lost an election the last time in 2008. With Robert Abela taking over from Muscat in January 2020, and leading the PL to yet another record win, it was obvious that Abela would be confirmed as leader. Over the past weekend, the PL held its general conference during which party delegates overwhelmingly showed their support to Abela, and the party’s two deputy leaders.
As for the PN, hours after losing the election, incumbent Bernard Grech said that he intended to stay on. He has been leading the PN for a shorter time than Abela at the PL, as Grech took over from Delia in October 2020.
Grech is now the only contender for the post, and he is set to be confirmed as party leader when the general council meets in the coming days. Whether he will obtain more than 96% of the councillors’ votes – as Abela did on the Labour end – remains to be seen.
In spite of losing the election, the PN will therefore not go through the trauma of changing its leader. It has done so three times in the last decade, more than it had done in the previous half century. And we all know that the last two leadership elections – that won by Delia in 2017 and Grech in 2020 – brought about so much division in the PN ranks. At least, by not having a leadership election the PN is sparing itself more internal strife.
So, unless something drastic happens over the next five years, Abela and Grech will be leading their respective party to the next election.
Both have so much to prove. They will be leading their party from the start of the legislature to its finish, and all eyes will be on them.