Exit stage right

As he packs his bags to leave his job as Nationalist Party general secretary, Joe Saliba speaks to Herman Grech about overturning electoral deficits and Joseph Muscat's possible slip in the last election campaign.

Joe Saliba is relishing the chance to board the boat of construction magnate Zaren Vassallo and tour Sicily during the Santa Maria holidays in August. This time he knows there will be no One TV cameras in hot pursuit.

"The cameras can follow me if they want... I have nothing to hide. Everybody knows that Zaren has been a friend for years," he says.

Mr Saliba leaves the PN's top administrative job after nine years, two general election victories (one by a hair's breadth), a successful EU referendum campaign, a change of party leader, and a state-of-the-art party headquarters he conceived six years ago.

Though still requiring some finishing touches, Mr Saliba grins widely from the top floor of the new HQ when party officials joke that the new PN general secretary may now peep right into the MLP headquarters a few blocks away at Mile End.

Despite leaving the party with his head held high, Mr Saliba is reluctant to pat himself on the back.

"The PN's success is down to several people and not just myself," he says, pointing out that he would rather let others judge his track record.

With a wafer-thin majority for the Nationalists, some believe that all things being equal, Labour should be heading for victory in the coming election... and that Mr Saliba is quitting at the right time.

Is it going to be an impossible mission for the new general secretary mastermind yet another PN victory?

"I disagree that it's impossible for the PN to win the next election," he maintains.

There are still five years to go, and the new general secretary should take the cue from the MLP election defeat report, which said that the PN had started off with a 10,000 to 15,000 vote deficit at the start of the campaign.

In five weeks, the PN managed to turn the tables and win the dramatic March 8 election by just 1,580 votes. Come the next election, the PN would have had 15 uninterrupted years in government plus another nine years before the 1996 hiccup, but according to Mr Saliba this should not serve as a prelude to defeat.

He says the key is in the strategy. In the last election, the PN estimated it lost some 6,000 votes after the 2003 election, ranging from the hunting lobby to individuals who felt the government had failed to accommodate them. So instead, the Nationalists targeted the 32,000 new voters and won the majority of them - likewise in the 2013 election there will be an equal number of new voters.

Mr Saliba says he is convinced the Nationalists earned the keys to Castille during the five-week electoral campaign. He had no doubt that the PN's activities and Lawrence Gonzi's dynamic approach, coupled with Labour's disorganisation and 'non-campaign', made the difference.

The PN will also have to capitalise on the votes that Labour stands to lose in the coming five years, irrespective of new leader Joseph Muscat's call for unity.

Mr Saliba knows all too well that Dr Muscat's first few days as leader have been riddled with infighting thanks to the legacy left by his predecessor.

Mr Saliba says, however, that "time will tell" when it is suggested that the events of the past week in the Labour camp are nothing more than teething problems and within five years the party will enter the election with a charismatic 39-year-old leader.

"The worst thing that our new general secretary can do is to give up from the outset or take things for granted. The PN has every chance of winning the next election."

Though all eyes have been on the MLP leadership saga in the last few weeks, a quieter, albeit more diplomatic battle is building up at Pietà. Popular MEP Simon Busuttil was pressured by Dr Gonzi himself to contest the post of general secretary. But he publicly turned it down.

Doesn't he think Dr Busuttil's case was mishandled, making it difficult for the party to find a good candidate?

"No, it hasn't created problems within the party. When I contested the post of general secretary nine years ago there were a number of other candidates who wanted to contest. You start sounding out the executive members and I ended up contesting against Paul Borg Olivier. (The Simon Busuttil) issue should not put anybody off."

Does he blame MP Beppe Fenech Adami, who is said to have opted out of contesting because of the administration's backing for Dr Busuttil?

"I spoke to Beppe and he didn't indicate that he felt insulted. He asked me whether he should contest and I have no doubt that he has all the credentials to be a general secretary, like the others mentioned so far. However, I urged Beppe to reflect on the fact that nowadays he's an MP and experience has shown me that a general secretary shouldn't step down in the middle of a legislature."

The tactics used by the PN top brass with the general secretary issue has drawn parallels with the MLP machinery, which was ironically accused of pushing for the election of Joseph Muscat for leader.

But according to Mr Saliba, there is no comparison: "There's a difference between urging somebody to contest and telling somebody to contest and then allowing the party machinery to carry out his campaign. The PN is carrying out nobody's campaign. Let's remember that the other potential candidates named so far - Paul Borg Olivier, Karol Aquilina and Jean Pierre Debono - are also saying they were approached to contest."

He also dismisses the suggestion that the names touted so far for the post of general secretary lack the qualities to steer the PN to victory.

"Nine years ago the same thing was said about me. At the time it was also seen as a weakness for the party to have a general secretary without a legal background. You earn your reputation and gain the necessary know-how through experience. If you have the energy and the dedication and you feel you can work for the post and not use the party as a stepping stone for your own sake or for your parliamentary ambitions, then you will succeed."

He insists, time and again, that the key to success is strategy as well as understanding the strategy of your opponent.

Offering an example, Mr Saliba claims that Joseph Muscat had inadvertently leaked the information that Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was going to be attacked by the MLP in the last few days of the campaign (over the fact that he owned a tract of land in Mistra on which a controversial disco had been planned), giving the PN a head start - and enough time to contain the potential damage.

"As a party, our work is to also understand Labour's strategy... if possible we have to be two steps ahead. We analyse the speeches and actions of every Labour official. That made us realise Labour was going to start attacking Jeffrey," even if in reality the new Labour leader never mentioned him by name.

"On a TV programme, Muscat said that Labour would be releasing information to implicate one of the candidates in corruption. A couple of days after the programme, in a private conversation, Muscat inadvertently continued giving hints to show that he was aware of Labour's strategy and we managed to identify the candidate they would be picking on."

Yet, despite the strategies, now that the celebrations have fizzled out, was he sure of a PN victory?

"I've never carried out a 'bandwagon' campaign where you emphasise you are going to win. My strategy has always been that we should fight for every vote. Even when we were confident that we were going to win by thousands of votes back in 2003 we avoided this strategy, let alone this time when it was clear that we wouldn't win by more than 2,000 votes. I always put up a fight and give my opponent a good challenge."

Despite telling The Times a year ago that the PN was leading in the polls by one per cent, he says he never adopted an over-optimistic attitude.

"Whoever is overconfident will end up like the Labour Party: acting as though they had already won the election by 10,000 to 15,000 votes before the campaign started.

How did he feel when he realised that so many had decided not to vote in the March 8 election?

He says that a couple of hours after the ballots had closed, the party's analysis had shown that the number of abstainers was split almost equally between the two main parties and that therefore the PN could be heading for a victory of just 2,000 votes.

"The MLP defeat report shows that Labour only realised that the number of abstentions was split almost equally between the two main parties three months after the election, which is perplexing and strange."

Dr Gonzi said that his strategy was never about winning elections but to work for the good of the country. When the Mistra controversy broke out, Mr Saliba was quoted as saying that at that 11th hour his only intention was to win every single vote. According to Mr Saliba there is absolutely no contradiction with Dr Gonzi's strategy.

"I'm employed with, and responsible for, the PN. The responsibility of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition should be solely towards the country. When party leaders start talking about winning alone, it's wrong."

The PN general secretary also insists that he is telling the truth when he says that he would like to see the MLP give the Nationalists a tough fight.

"The worst thing that can happen to the PN is if it continues winning without a constructive Labour Party, an opposition which keeps making mistakes. The PN can't play alone. If I had a Labour Party which challenged me every day, it would energise me to build better strategies."

Mr Saliba laughs when it is suggested that he must have had an easy ride, considering his evaluation of the Labour Party.

"Throughout the legislature, the MLP kept us alert. But throughout the campaign, the challenge posed by the MLP was getting worse by the day. Labour had a non-campaign. In the first fortnight I actually suspected that their non-campaign was part of the strategy. However, by the third week it was evident this was the best they could come up with."

Three months after the general election, he said it was clear that there was no culture of resignations within the Labour Party following successive electoral defeats. Alfred Sant only quit after four big losses, including an EU referendum. There is no doubt that a losing party has to change the entire team.

"Our culture is different - it's irrelevant if you win - there comes a time when you have to call it a day."

Would the top PN officials have resigned if the party lost the election?

He says that he had resigned his post as president of the Solidarjetà Ħaddiema after the PN's defeat in 1996.

"At the time, I felt that all those who formed part of the administration should have quit. And I was merely the president of a movement back then; however, I resigned."

Now that his political input has been etched into the PN's history, rumours are circulating that he will be one of the candidates fielded in next year's European Parliament elections, but Mr Saliba remains non-committal.

"They've said so many things about me - I am meant to have so many jobs lined up with the government. Still, I believe I have proved myself and nobody should give me something because of my role in the PN or to thank me. I believe I've always left a positive mark, wherever I've worked.

"No, at this stage, I have no intention of contesting the MEP elections but I never rule out anything."

What if the party approaches him to contest?

"There are still a lot of things I want to do. Should I go back into the political arena or should I consider one of the options offered to me by the private sector? Maybe I should take it easy and factor my family into the whole thing. What is certain is that for the next two months I intend taking it easy. I want to complete one of my unfinished theatre writings, a book and start working on my thesis... and then I'll see."

He is certainly looking forward to that boat ride.

To watch clips from the interview log on to www.timesofmalta.com.