Deadlines being what they are, I had to write this column before Lawrence Gonzi’s PN elected its new deputy leader. But it does not really matter since I am more concerned with what the contest itself says about the governing party on the eve of a national election. Whatever the result, this is not the end of the story.
The internal battle for the PN’s soul does not end here- Mario Vella
The Sunday Times of November 25 reported that “(a)way from the cameras there is very little friendliness in the Nationalist Party deputy leadership contest”. It could not have been otherwise.
On the same day, Tourism Minister Mario de Marco told the same newspaper: “I had my reservations on the need to have a contest. I thought at this point in time it was more important for the party to focus on the general election.
“I think it’s much more important for us to go around convincing people on the importance of voting for the Nationalist Party than me going around trying to lobby my Nationalist councillors to vote for X, Y, or Z.”
When asked whether he had “relayed these reservations to the party administration” he replied that he “made (his) views known in no uncertain language”.
Maybe but, evidently, de Marco’s views got short shrift from those that really matter.
I sounded out an elderly Nationalist veteran from Ħamrun about de Marco’s views apparently falling on deaf ears in Pietà.
He shrugged but then, almost as an afterthought, opined that the late Guido de Marco would have stated his case more forcefully if he thought that a contest in the present circumstances would have done more harm than good to his beloved party. This would have been an ideal opportunity for Mario de Marco to demonstrate leadership.
Having ignored de Marco’s very sensible views, Gonzi’s party staged a not-quite-friendly duel between a senior Cabinet minister and someone without even the political benefit of a seat in the Maltese Parliament.
The senior minister stomped onto the jousting field with an overbearing and arrogant display of institutional support: nothing less than the declared support of seven Cabinet ministers and the endorsement of 138 voting councillors. Not easy to adequately translate prepotenza into English.
The point was clear: know ye all that Minister Tonio Fenech is the man of the Establishment and stands for conservative continuity. He will never stoop so low as to even consider the possibility of reconciliation with mere backbenchers who dare question the wisdom of the inner circle. The compact reaction of Gonzi’s PN to Simon Busuttil’s suggestion of a possible reconciliation with dissident MPs confirmed that he was not their recommended choice.
Regardless of the result, the contest confirms that the institutional machinery of Gonzi’s PN will resist tooth and nail any attempt to come to terms with a society that is changing faster than the political system.
Although the men and women that control the PN are only a part of the party, they will not easily give up the privileges that go with power to others within the same party who know that change is badly and urgently needed.
The election of the new deputy leader does not bring closure. It is not the end of the story. The internal battle for the PN’s soul (and for its resources and networks) does not end here. Both sides, the winners and the losers, know that this is only one, albeit important, battle in a long war. There will be other internal battles in the not-too-distant future.
I want to make it clear that when I speak of the PN’s internal conflict I am certainly not thinking of the skirmishes involving individual backbenchers but of a conflict involving very significant numbers on both sides.
The support given by the party’s Establishment to Fenech suggests that future battles will see the Establishment pitted against the larger PN, the PN of those for whom the party is more than just the Dar Ċentrali (headquarters).
It may well be that these battles will be fought when the PN is no longer in government. My reading of Busuttil’s words is that at least one of the two sides – the one that is keener to face the changes that need to be made to come to terms with today’s reality – is not living in denial.
He said: “I (could) have simply stayed out of this, waited for my party to lose and then make my bid for the top job... I preferred to come to my party’s help when my party needed help most and not wait for it to be defeated before I put my name forward” (The Sunday Times, November 18).
Unlike some in the PN’s establishment who still dream of a further 20 years in power, Busuttil has come to terms with the very real possibility of defeat.
That might be a blessing in disguise for the PN that has been locked out of the Dar Ċentrali for far too long.
Mario Vella blogs at http://watersbroken.wordpress.com .