Simon Busuttil made an attempt last Sunday to offer hope that the Nationalist Party will be able to emerge from the electoral wilderness after its crushing defeat last year.
Addressing the party’s first General Convention, he vowed not to allow the PN to become detached from the electorate and asked his audience to embrace all sectors of society, while at the same time stressing the importance of openness and diversity within the party.
Dr Busuttil knows he has a mountain to climb. The PN he inherited was once regarded as Malta’s ‘natural party of government’, having received a majority of votes in six out of seven elections between 1981 and 2008. Yet last year it was deserted in droves at the polls and received a further blow during last June’s European Parliament elections.
These defeats plunged the PN into crisis. Not only could it no longer claim a monopoly on a transformational issue like EU membership and a market economy, but Labour also managed to get into its camp to take away prized liberal voters.
Successive issues only sought to consolidate the downward spiral, which has left the PN facing the very real risk of becoming a narrow-based conservative party which appeals only to its core supporters.
While there seems to be little realistic prospect of the PN winning the next election, Dr Busuttil needs to concentrate on a number of areas in his fight to make a significant impact on its huge majority. Changes in both style and substance are vital.
The biggest challenge he faces is to ensure that people can relate to the party. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is a charismatic politician who speaks the people’s language and is therefore a formidable opponent.
Dr Busuttil has to date come across as a little detached and sometimes indecisive. He has struggled to convince that he can reconcile the different factions within his party.
Yet last Sunday he took a positive step forward, adopting a more casual, down-to-earth and yet direct approach during the convention in what was his finest speech to date. It’s no surprise it was well-received by most political observers.
However, while Dr Busuttil deserves praise for saying that, unlike Dr Muscat, he would shun populism and adopt clear positions on a range of issues even if such stands do not instantly earn him votes, he needs to translate this into action.
This is easier said than done in a country that favours clientelism. But there will come a time when people will opt for a leader who favours principles over nepotism, and who truly believes in meritocracy rather than going down the route of appeasing everybody. The million-euro question is: when?
That is far from clear, which is what makes the PN leader’s task such a difficult undertaking. But while Dr Busuttil needs to select more carefully which issues he decides to escalate, it is vitally important that he comes out clearly, strongly and unequivocally on certain issues. It is disappointing to note that in today’s interview with this newspaper, he is not doing that, especially on the Armier boathouses.
He will gain credit for publicly acknowledging that the PN has made mistakes, while at the same time capitalising on the government’s errors.
These will increase as the legislature progresses, but while people have money in their pockets they are unlikely to be fatal for Labour.
This makes Dr Busuttil’s task all the more difficult, as his fortunes do not depend on his abilities alone. However, the PN has made a huge contribution to Malta’s socio-economic development and – if it plays its cards right – can still do so in future.