MLP leadership contest seen being manipulated

A number of Labour MPs and delegates are urging party international secretary Michael Falzon to run for the post of leader, sources said yesterday.

Dr Falzon, who is popular with the delegates, is known to have teamed up with Charles Mangion and both were showing an interest in contesting for the posts of deputy leaders: Dr Falzon for party affairs and Dr Mangion for parliamentary affairs.

But over the past few days, pressure was being mounted on Dr Falzon to run for the leadership. Dr Falzon's intentions are not known.

It is a muddled situation - those who are thought to have an interest in the leadership, namely John Attard Montalto, Anglu Farrugia and Evarist Bartolo, with possibly even former deputy leader George Abela on the list, are handicapped because party leader Alfred Sant, who initially declared he would not be standing after the April 12 electoral humiliation, was now "re-considering" his position after appeals were made for him to stay.

Dr Sant's latest statement, in his column in it-Torca last Sunday, was that he would make his intentions clear by May 10 - significantly the day when nominations for the post close. They open on May 8 and the election will be held on May 15.

The election for deputy leaders will take place a week later.

Sources said there were complaints within the party about the way the leadership contest was being "manipulated".

"An electoral commission should have been formed to organise and control the electoral process as well as the party media. All contenders should be on an equal footing in this race and it is not right that some contenders have more access or bias in their favour by the party media while others are being left out in the cold," the sources said.

Because of Dr Sant's vacillation, those who were canvassing were telling delegates that they "would contest as long as Dr Sant would not contest. In other words, these were effectively re-inforcing with the delegates the impression that Dr Sant should stay on as leader," the sources argued.

It is believed Dr Sant would not join the contest if Dr Abela did not put his name forward. And if Dr Abela's name was not on the contenders' list, the party administration would back Mr Bartolo.

Another possibility being mentioned is that the leadership issue will be postponed to January when the other administration posts are up for renewal.

Delegates and party officials are seen remiss in not discussing another important issue: whether the party could ever be elected unless radical changes were made to both the people heading the party as well as to policies.

"The problem is that there is no one in the MLP who is willing to stand up and be counted. There is no solid faction within the parliamentary group that is willing to bell the cat and declare that they want change. People whisper in each other's ears and out of sight of others as they fear that they would be sidelined," the sources said.

The election of deputy leaders is usually linked to the leadership issue, and hence both Gorg Vella and Joe Brincat have offered their resignation but reserved the right to contest for the posts again. However, names of other candidates are being touted within the party.

Although some party delegates were saying that Dr Brincat might be interested in the leadership post, Dr Brincat categorically denied, when contacted yesterday, he was interested, but insisted he was interested in that of deputy leader.

Dr Brincat said he wanted to dispel any thoughts that when he spoke to Labour councillors last Friday, he was in any way attacking Michael Falzon.

MLP councillors felt Dr Brincat was criticising Dr Falzon when, in a speech, he made several references to the way the party had organised itself for the election and that the party had wrong information about how people would be voting.

"What I said was a reference to what should be done in the future. I was not critcising what had happened in the past," Dr Brincat said.