Before Saturday’s vote

One has to start from the 3rd of June. The events of the previous weeks had led many in the Nationalist Party, the leadership included, to believe that the relentless campaign against corruption under Joseph Muscat would carry the day. Even I believed it

We now know how it ended – with a massive 40,000 defeat for the PN. The Labour Party the PN came up against was a relentless rollercoaster, a behemoth, supremely well organised and leaving nothing to chance. The PN had no hope in hell of getting anywhere near. That should have been clear from 2013 when the party did not content itself with barely winning, as the preceding government had done in 2008, but ensured it won and won well.

Of course, the PL enjoyed massive power of incumbency – it had more money, better planning (easier when you know the election date in advance) and, most importantly, it understood the mentality of the people.

Simon Busuttil’s PN was fighting an uphill battle – with very limited funds, some organizational hiccups and a leader who took strategic decisions on his own with very little consultation.

Nevertheless, the party’s battle against corruption was one that did it honour, in line with its history and the people who led it. Like Il-Gross and Nerik Mizzi, whose widow had to take up piano teaching to make ends meet after he died penniless.

You will find people who dispute this to this very day. They blame Daphne Caruana Galizia for leading a campaign of hatred and vindictiveness and for being the main cause of the defeat. This is claimed not just by Labour but also in these turbulent days by some or many inside the PN.

Before this year’s election Labour did its utmost to downplay the scandals Daphne had unearthed and which Simon Busuttil campaigned against – the Panama Papers, the story of the minister and the brothel, and lastly the Egrant and Pilatus Bank affair. While the Panama Papers have been confirmed (and Prime Minister Muscat, to this day, has not taken any concrete steps against the people involved), the other two are still subject to countless libel cases.

Labour raked up many allegations of corruption under the PN (even though the oil scandal which played a good part in the 2013 election has not led to any incrimination so far).

Simon Busuttil turned the PN campaign into a one-issue campaign – that against corruption. He lost the election and resigned, leaving the party headless and direction-less.

Now PN is having a leadership electoral campaign which reaches its first phase next Saturday when the party’s delegates vote out two of the four candidates. The remaining two will head to the final ballot, when all party card-carrying members vote on 16 September.

The campaign has become a hotly-contested one with supporters of more than one candidate claiming that if their candidate is not elected, they will leave the party. Members and supporters have been squabbling all over the place, especially on Facebook and in comments to news websites.

It would seem that the applications have been accepted by the electoral board with little to no background investigation being carried out on the financial situation of the candidates and on their political stances. Had proper investigation been carried out, maybe someone would have been weeded out but maybe the explosive reaction of that candidate would have already happened.

The issue regards two candidates – Adrian Delia and Frank Portelli. The issue about the latter regards claims he has incurred debts with regard to St Philip’s Hospital (which he disputes) and about some of his public utterances on issues such as immigration and the like. So one issue was political and the other regarded the eligibility of the candidate but the electoral board did nothing.

The problem these days is Adrian Delia. There were some preliminary issues raised up by Daphne but the main issue was broadcast this week, complete with photos of bank statements from 2003 which would prove, according to Daphne, that contrary to what he has been saying, he did have an overseas bank account into which money from rents for property in Soho was funnelled en route to its owner (only, the bank claimed, the money never reached the owner, till then). What is called rent can be another name for call girls renting a flat for their operations. Delia has now unleashed two libel cases against Daphne.

There are many issues here. If what Daphne is saying is true, Delia should be investigated by the FIAU and possibly by the British authorities as well.

More to the point: should he be allowed to stand for party leader, of that party that made integrity its cornerstone over the years? One of the ‘preliminary points’ I mentioned earlier is his nine per cent share in a consortium which has a €7 million debt with a bank on a construction project.

The readers on Daphne’s blog are strongly critical of Delia but those on Facebook and on comment spaces are very negative. Their criticism is very much like that waged by Labour before and after the election – that Daphne is a vindictive person who instigates hatred and who caused the PN’s two successive defeats.

I believe that Delia, if he does not drop out of the race, must not be one of the chosen two next Saturday but I also warn his defeat will cause massive damage to the party.

One other issue is that the two remaining candidates – Alex Perici Calascione and Chris Said – do not inspire confidence as forceful leaders in the Eddie Fenech Adami mode.

The party may do what it will but I strongly disagree with this Labour-inspired demonization of Daphne. Her record is there for all to see. One does not have to agree with many or most of her posts, but she has been right more times than one can remember. And she has courage we all wish we had.

One wonders what the party’s revered heroes think of the present situation. Or perhaps they might be afraid that if they speak they will distort the electoral process. But what does Simon Busuttil think? What does Lawrence Gonzi think? What does Eddie Fenech Adami think? Do they think that by keeping silent they are helping the party they built up?

Adrian Delia has absolutely no track record in the party, except as a party member and a voter. His statements on policy in the past days have been vapid (not that those of the others are any better). There has been no focus on the great issues of the country or any grand vision for the future. And he only got round to speaking about corruption days into the campaign. The impression one gets is that he (and maybe some other candidates) are out to reverse Simon Busuttil’s selfless anti-corruption campaign.

I said this before – there is a dissonance between Saturday’s electoral base and the 16 September one. What if these two bases do not agree with each other? Will the 16 September winner be a different one from next Saturday’s?

We don’t have long to wait now.