These will be a demanding 10 weeks for the Malta Labour Party. More than choosing a new leadership it will have to decide what chance the party will have of winning the next general election. That may be up to five years away. But it is already - or at least, should be - on top of the MLP's agenda.

There are various decisions to take. The first will be whether to call an extraordinary general conference to change the party statute. A petition in that regard is doing the rounds, requesting an amendment which would allow members, and not only delegates, to elect the leader. The petition will probably be backed by the required 10 per cent of the party delegates, a fraction of around 100. That will require the setting of a date for the meeting well in advance of June 5, when the new leader is due to be elected.

One cannot predict whether a majority of the voting delegates will agree to devolve power from themselves to the paid-up members who elected them in the first place. But, should the delegates do so, an extensive logistical exercise will be required to check who the paid-up party members are, and to allow them to vote. The voting arrangements would have to be as transparent as can be and strictly overseen, so that there will be no suspicion of hanky panky.

Between these stages and June 5 another important date will intervene: The next legislature will start before mid-May. It will have to include a Leader of the Opposition - at a time when the new MLP leader will not have been elected by the party and, possibly, may still have to go through another process to become a Member of Parliament. The latter eventuality would arise should the new Labour leader be either George Abela or Joseph Muscat.

Dr Abela's candidacy seems to depend on whether the MLP statute is in fact amended. Dr Muscat and the two other so-far declared contenders - Evarist Bartolo and Michael Falzon - appear set to fight under any scenario. So, probably, will the other likely candidates for the top post, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Anġlu Farrugia.

Before the 10 weeks to June 5 are out, more water will have passed under the MLP bridge. It will not be surprising if, by D-Day, not all the above-mentioned contenders will still be in contention. It is not uncommon for interests to coalesce, to come together so as to unite forces around some basic understanding. A dream ticket of George Abela for leader, Joseph Muscat for deputy leader may seem unlikely. But other tickets could emerge.

In various regards the 2008 election will see stirring the broth hands that were also at it in 1992 and 2003.

The extent to which the party ensures that such hands will stay clean could be crucial to the final outcome. But there is a major overall consideration.

It is the extent to which delegates, the first key to the whole process, will focus on what lies at stake: The election of a person who can capture for the MLP the additional margin of the non-automatically-Labour electorate to make him or her a truly potential Prime Minister.