In the news item titled ‘Defiant Delia vows to forge ahead’ (August 31) Simon Busuttil was quoted as saying: “If I were in his [Adrian Delia’s] position, I would have certainly withdrawn from the race”. This was yet another gaffe by the outgoing Nationalist Party leader.

This statement revealed gross immaturity, also considering that the PN’s leadership contest had already commenced and, therefore, one can claim that it was an unethical attempt to vitiate said process by exercising influence over 1,300 party councillors.

Instead of pontificating on what party leadership candidates should or should not do, the outgoing party leader should have explained to journalists present why no electoral analysis was held after the June 3 general election.

This was the opposite of what took place exactly after the March 9, 2013 election when the PN appointed an independent commission, which not only conducted a soul-searching exercise but also published a report in May of the same year.

Unfortunately, relevant recommendations in the report were discarded by the then new party leadership, eventually sending the PN into meltdown.

Many are beginning to suspect that the real reason that no similar electoral analysis was held after the June election was that Busuttil was afraid that he would get the lion’s share of the blame for having led the party to a historic defeat.