The PL is right: The PN establishment won

The new leader of the Nationalist Party, Bernard Grech, said that he does not like labels.

He was replying to a question, in his first press conference after beating Adrian Delia in last week’s election, on whether he believes that his victory meant that the party establishment had regained power at Pieta.

It is the Nationalist Party which was the only winner, he said. Saying that this is a clichéd reply is an under-statement.

Long before the day of the election arrived, and ever since Bernard Grech was selected to be the only candidate to battle against Delia, it had been clear that the new PN leader had been the preferred choice of the party’s old guard. Yes, the same people who ultimately shared the responsibility for the PN’s massive election defeats in both 2013 and 2017.

The masterminds behind the ousting of Delia – the ones who made his life as PN and Opposition leader hell for three years – pushed Grech, an outsider, to contest. “On their behalf” is a phrase that can be easily added to the last sentence.

They were the ones who, first, used Therese Comodini Cachia, putting forward her name to the President as the Opposition Leader of their choice. But, once that tactic failed, they pushed her aside because they did not need her anymore. They wanted someone who is easier to control now, and easier to throw out in 2022.

Two of them – Chris Said and Karol Aquilina – were right behind Grech when the latter addressed a gathering of supporters soon after it was evident that the target of winning the leadership election had been reached. Said started off the applause too. Grech will have to hope that it will not turn out to be his Palm Sunday.

The Labour Party

The Labour Party, inevitably but correctly, also referred to it as a win for the establishment. It went further, saying that Grech’s victory was one for the faction led by former leader Simon Busuttil, Jason Azzopardi and Aquilina, with their “divisive politics”. Labour is very close to the truth on this one.

The PL had openly supported Delia in the race. Labour exponents and supporters were all over the social media to express their preferred choice, and Labour’s own official channels reported on every fault they could find with Grech. It backfired against Delia, as the PN paid-up members who were still in doubt on who to vote for in the election were influenced the other way.

With Grech’s win, the Nationalist Party has started a new chapter. Whether it has turned a corner remains to be seen. Grech still needs to prove himself, and the promises he made still need to be fulfilled. Whether he will be his own man or allow himself to be led by not-so invisible strings is also a matter that will come under scrutiny.

The most important thing for the PN now is to bring itself up to the level of a credible Opposition. Under Delia – whether because of him, or whether it’s because he was not allowed to work by the rebels is a question that will linger – the PN lost relevance in the overall political scenario.

Even its larger achievements, such as the Egrant report publication and the progress in the legal action on the three public hospitals (all thanks to Delia, with no help from his colleagues), failed to make an impact. Many said it’s Delia’s presence that makes any PN political inroad just a dent in Labour’s armour, when it should have caused a crater. We will have to see whether it will be a different story with Grech in command.

Adrian Delia

Adrian Delia was gracious in defeat. He said he will show loyalty to his new leader. Delia said he will not do to Bernard Grech “what others did to me”, a clear message to all those who stabbed him, not only in the back.

Delia’s presence in the parliamentary group and his contribution to the party’s work will be one of the challenges that Grech will have to face in the next months. To move forward, both will have to put aside any acrimony that was generated between them during the campaign. This needs to be done as quickly as possible. The PN cannot afford to have a Robert Abela-Chris Fearne type of situation within its fold. Delia must remove any bitterness he must be feeling for the way he was kicked out of the leader’s chair.

It is always hard for a new political leader when his predecessor remains as part of the parliamentary group. It happened to Delia too, when Simon Busuttil stayed on until he found the right opportunity to leave. Busuttil’s influence remained deep inside the PN, even when he finally decided to go, also because his loyalists were the same people who continued to hinder Delia’s work. Delia needs to stick to his word and not be a thorn in the side in the same way that Busuttil – and his group – was to him.

Probably the biggest hurdle will not be the relationship between Grech and Delia. The largest obstacle will be to mend the rapport between Delia and the large group of MPs who worked incessantly for three years to get him out. This is easier said than done, given all that has taken place for such a long time.

Grech must find a way to keep Delia happy without irking the MPs who ultimately were responsible for his taking over Delia’s seat. Pleasing the two sides will be a difficult task, especially because the PN parliamentary group does include a few primadonnas who think too highly of themselves.

And, as if there was a need for proof that the internal conflict still exists, it took just three days for the first post-election spat to surface. Jason Azzopardi, ever so present on the social media, asked why Robert Abela was refusing to meet Grech at Castille when he (Abela) had found no difficulty welcoming Delia.

Delia’s reply was for Azzopardi to stop damaging the party, adding that Azzopardi will fail in his intention to create friction between him (Delia) and Grech.

Asked about this public spat, Grech said that the social media should be used intelligently and that disciplinary steps could be considered if PN MPs abuse. It is hard to imagine this happening though. We’ll have to see how this develops.

What has also stood out in the past days is that people within the PN who created so much trouble in the past three years are now advocating the need for unity. Cheeky, indeed.

The supporters

In the days that followed Grech’s election, PN exponents who supported Delia announced that they were going to leave the party. PN secretary general Francis Zammit Dimech is trying to lure them back, believing it is just a knee-jerk reaction and based on emotion, rather than rationality.

But such defections were likely to happen. This is largely because of the way Delia was removed. The argument is that the rebel MPs did not follow democratic principles when they worked hard against Delia in spite of him being made leader, in 2017, in an election which for the first time was open to party members (not just party councillors, as had been the case previously).

Delia supporters saw him as someone who could lift the party away from the grips of the already-mentioned establishment, but MPs who were supposedly on his side never allowed him to work properly and their internal opposition deprived the party of the energy needed in its political fight against the Labour government.

So much time was wasted on internal disputes that the PN gave Labour a free ride on many issues. And, to them, it was not Delia’s fault. The ones to blame were those who were putting spokes in his wheels.

Conversely, people who are traditionally close to the PN but who did not identify with Delia now see the party as more welcoming. They were not prepared to vote in the next election if Delia had remained as leader; now they are reconsidering their decision.

The PN has won some, and has lost others. Grech, in his first speech, said he will work to convince the members who voted for Delia to remain and work harder for the party. Time will tell us if he succeeded.

The coming election

There is little time between now and the next general election. It is only 18 months away. And the party still needs time – Grech himself said it will take three months – to put its house in order, now that a new leader has been elected. The structures that make up the party will themselves have to undergo changes that are required.

This will mean that, once all of this is over, we will be more or less in an election mode. The party would need to prepare for all that an election brings with it – the drawing up of an election manifesto and the organisation of the campaign. The party has not had a steady organisation in the past years, and it will need to pull up its socks quickly to be ready when Robert Abela blows the whistle.