People militate in political parties, at least if they are honest men and true, for the greater good of the party, and this because they believe that the party is the best option for running the country.
That's not to say that a degree of personal ambition doesn't come into it, we're all only human, after all, but that's why groups of electors are involved in choosing, to make sure that what we now call the "wiki" effect smooths out the edges as much as possible.
It has to be assumed, then, that the PN's councillors, who will be choosing their party's deputy leader next Saturday, have these parameters in mind. They are in the party and work for it within the context not of their personal aggrandisement or to ensure the fame and fortune of their personal friends or favourites but to have it to returned government in a few months' time.
That this does not apply to that Debono person is obvious, but there's little anyone can do about that, he is hell-bent on exacting personal revenge for the slights he imagines he has suffered, egged on by the cynical opportunists on the Labour side of the equation.
Thankfully, after his upcoming last spasm, he will become an utter nonentity, for all that he might jam a spanner into the national works in the process. This will be a measure of the man alone and no-one else, a measure that will shame only him.
The PN's councillors, in the meantime, have an obligation that is more impelling than it has been for some time. Believing, as they must, that they need to keep Labour out of power, and in view of what we've seen of Labour and its "Star Candidates", no-one in his right mind can disagree with them, they need to cast their vote on Saturday with an eye to this "main chance", electoral advantage.
Both candidates are good, this much we know. Commentators, and I'm as guilty as the next one, have been wary about tipping their hats one way or the other.
Nailing one's colours to any specific mast when both are sturdy is not something that is lightly undertaken.But when push comes to push harder, and a decision has to be taken, the duty must be undertaken after an accurate reading of the tea-leaves and a good squint at the intestines of the body politic.
In politics, being elected is the be-all and end-all of the process, boiled down to its essentials, and ignoring this leads to the risk of defeat.