Has the dismissal of Manuel Mallia really changed the Maltese political landscape in a significant way? Some say it has done so for the better. I am not so sure.

Consider first the Labour Party: maverick Labour MP Marlene Farrugia has gone on record saying that Mallia’s dismissal signifies the beginning of the end of Joseph Muscat’s so-called ‘movement’.

Indeed, in the last election, Mallia was not only touted as a ‘star candidate’ but also as a reliable signpost, assuaging all doubting voters about Muscat’s intentions and his leading a ‘movement’ that went much beyond the traditional Labour Party.

Mallia’s candidature with Labour was supposed to be a beacon for all disgruntled PN voters, indicating it was safe to vote new Labour. This is now all water under the bridge.

Ever since Muscat concocted his ‘movement’ made up of traditional Labour voters and disgruntled PN voters, I always thought that, in the long run, the tension between the two parts of the strange coalition that elected him will prove to be too much.

In truth, traditional Labour voters still resent those who did not support their party in the past and joined Muscat’s so-called ‘movement’ for reasons that are extraneous to the old Labour Party raison d’être.

Seen from this context, Mallia was not considered a popular minister, even among traditional Labour supporters. His downfall was greeted with open glee by the supporters of rival Labour candidates in the ninth and 10th electoral districts. Schadenfreude is not an unknown phenomenon in Maltese politics, of course!

But even more important, I sense that Mallia’s departure from Muscat’s Cabinet has given rise to a new resurgence of Old Labour, with the message to Muscat being that those who switched for convenience’s sake are not to be relied upon as their loyalty to the original Labour cause is suspect. This means that Muscat is facing mounting internal pressure to forget all about his ‘movement’ and return to the traditional Labour mould.

Of course, these people do not realise that Labour would not be in power without the electoral support of the other part of Muscat’s part of the coalition that they now denigrate.

Unravelling Muscat’s ‘movement’ is tantamount to Labour losing the support of the majority of the electorate. Muscat knows this and will not give in to these pressures easily; but they will keep continually hounding him, encouraged by such events as Mallia’s dismissal from Cabinet.

What is happening, meanwhile, in the PN? There is no doubt that Simon Busuttil’s stature has been bolstered in the wake of the Mallia episode and this makes the PN look stronger.

However, even with the PN there is internal tension between those who still insist the party never strayed from its original mission and those who want radical changes to make the PN the all-inclusive party it never was; more so during the last five years of power when its perceived exclusivity led it to an electoral debacle of great proportions.

I sense that Mallia’s departure from Muscat’s Cabinet has given rise to a new resurgence of Old Labour

The Mallia dismissal episode is being interpreted by those PN supporters who are still in denial about the nature of their party’s defeat, as proof that the PN does not need to change. They argue that Labour will move from one mess to another with the electorate eventually realising that the PN is a safer option. Hence there is no need for the PN to reinvent itself as it will eventually become, once again, the natural choice of the electorate that will, in time, realise the mistake of electing labour.

The mindset here is that the PN in government did nothing wrong and did not deserve to be beaten at the polls. The state of denial, in which some PN exponents still seem to be, makes them argue that the mistake was made by that section of the electorate that abandoned it, rather than by the party. This is very dangerous thinking that seeks to unravel Busuttil’s plan to radically change the PN even while this plan is still ‘works in progress’.

It tends to push the PN back to the narrow straits from which Busuttil is slowly, but surely, withdrawing the PN.

It does seem to me, therefore, that the Mallia dismissal episode has given a new impetus to those in the two parties that want them to go back to their traditional rigid stances rather than evolve into the modern political parties that Malta deserves to have in 2014.

It would be unhealthy for Maltese democracy if Muscat were to give in and allow his party to move back away from the centre; as much as it would be detrimental were Simon Busuttil to allow his party to refuse to open up and keep ignoring the changes wrought in Maltese society during the last twenty years.

It does seem to me that the extreme currents of both parties have been encouraged to raise their heads. Is it back to square one?

For both party leaders, succumbing to this sort of internal pressure is the fastest road leading to electoral defeat.

• May I take this opportunity to wish the editor and staff of The Sunday Times of Malta and all readers a very Happy Christmas.

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