The Labour Party leadership contest

So Joseph Muscat is the new MLP leader. The five contestants for the post spared no effort and spent large sums of money on their campaign. However, it was the individual track record of each candidate and what s/he was perceived to stand for that counted most.

Let me start with the man elected to be Labour leader, that is, Dr Muscat.

Dr Muscat has worked hard as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) and his track record is second to none. Self-confident, an able speaker and with the boundless energy of youth, he quickly demonstrated that he is his own man and that he will not be working in the shadow of his mentor, Alfred Sant. Furthermore, Dr Muscat, early on, convinced everyone that he would reform the MLP and that he was prepared to take all measures necessary to do so.

One should also mention that he boasts of an excellent organisational team run on highly-professional lines and which has, for several years beforehand, been preparing for the moment when Dr Muscat would make a bid for the MLP leadership. His endorsement by the Party of European Socialists (PES) chairman, Martin Schulz, was seen as a gaffe by many outside the MLP but, on the contrary, seems to have increased his prestige in the eyes of many Labour delegates.

George Abela, who finished second and managed to take the contest to a second round of voting, was a very valid contender but was handicapped by the fact that he had been politically inactive within the MLP for almost a decade.

Still, he managed to organise a leadership campaign that did him credit.

Dr Abela also lost votes because of the interference of the Nationalist Party in the campaign for the MLP leadership.

The fact that well-known PN exponents openly recommended Dr Abela as the best choice for MLP leader only served to dent his chances of being successful. Why PN exponents canvassed Dr Abela's candidature is an issue which has aroused much debate and speculation in political circles.

The third-placed contestant, Michael Falzon, was handicapped by his forming part of the leadership team that lost the 2008 general election. The fact that he was deputy leader for party affairs at the time severely impaired his image. Many who wanted a fresh start for the MLP identified him with a past that had led the MLP into the dark alley of defeat.

Dr Falzon was, above all, damaged by the publication of the report analysing the 2008 general election defeat, which many political analysts consider as being highly debatable and controversial.

For Dr Falzon, a politician worthy of the utmost respect for his integrity and commitment to the national interest, the damage sustained was irreparable.

Evarist Bartolo, who placed fourth, perhaps contested for the leadership of the MLP five years too late. Many are of the opinion that had Dr Sant not contested for leader in 2003 and had Mr Bartolo contested instead, Mr Bartolo would have won the contest with the other two contenders hands down. As things turned out, Mr Bartolo paid a high price for his chivalry in 2003.

By 2008, Mr Bartolo was seen as forming a continuation with the past and someone as close as he was to Dr Sant was perceived to be a non-starter for a Labour leader despite his impeccable personal and political qualities and his record as, arguably, Malta's best-ever Minister of Education.

Marie Louise Coleiro-Preca, who finished in the fifth and last position, was disadvantaged by the fact that she has been militating in MLP for decades and her detractors outside the party tried to associate her name with the political violence of the 1970s and 1980s. This was very unfair because Mrs Coleiro-Preca has always been one of the most moderate and exemplary of Maltese politicians.

Again, however, for those who wanted a clean break with the past, Mrs Coleiro-Preca was not perceived by many delegates as being an option for the MLP leadership. Her popularity tends to be very strong on an electoral district basis but rather weak on a national basis. Given that she was the only woman candidate, the positive effects in terms of votes won seem to have been negligible.

The reason for this could be because Maltese political parties are still dominated by males; there are no females elected as members of the present MLP administration.

The most urgent task facing the new MLP leader is to unite the party. If Labour is to become a winning force, the days of cliques and factions have to become things of the past. United in believing in the same political ideology, all Labourites have to work together for a common goal : a future Labour government.