The good sense of learning from failure is irrefutable. Failure is not always bad, it might be the desperately needed wake-up call for regrouping and reinvention. This is indisputably the Nationalist Party’s moment to reassess. However, the necessary attitudes and activities required to analyse and learn from failures are seemingly in short supply in the Opposition, and certainly not exhibited from the top.
A political party aspiring to be in government, and so off the ball in the perception of what society wants, needs to go beyond superficial cosmetic changes and address the root of their problems. However, because of the self-serving nature of the PN, we’ll seemingly never know what the Opposition potentially could be.
The sheer arrogance by the leader of the Opposition not to issue a post-mortem election report does not bode well for his legacy. Like a submerged iceberg in a warming climate, the truth about the PN is coming to the surface, not exhibiting the willingness or enthusiasm to face facts.
Failure and fault are inextricably linked, and Simon Busuttil does not want to carry the blame, in an attempt to nurse his bruised ego.
Leaders cannot distance themselves from a failure, but must instead own it to truly discover the wisdom contained in it.
Busuttil was not the right man to decide upon such an urgent issue that would help restructure and provide relief to his own party. If the reasons for the election failure are “known”, then why are its members shifting the blame from one person to the other?
The recent hitting out and voicing of concerns of various people within the PN are those of well-meaning people swimming in frustration and resentment that shows a space for self-reflection has not been created.
The new leader of the Opposition should have had the seemingly obvious choice to decide on the report. Busuttil should have bowed out of taking this decision but instead will leave behind a fractured party and no route for a thoughtful exercise to take place, which could have made his departure a bit more praiseworthy from blameworthy.
The Labour Party at this stage could easily rest on the laurels of a second electoral win and take a step back. Instead we are shaking things up
There have been many teachable moments throughout Busuttil’s time for everyone; it’s a shame the PN does not want to learn from them. The 2013 post-mortem report found that the public perception of a clique within the PN and the lack of disassociation from hate blogs were two of the prime causes for a landslide defeat.
These two causes were not addressed by the PN under Busuttil’s tenure but were even more salient in nature.
Simon Mercieca, co-author of the 2013 post-mortem, says that most of the recommendations highlighted in that report were completely ignored, particularly with regards to the reform of the administration. Mercieca believes that this is primarily the reason that the PN was reluctant to commission a report this time round.
The uncomfortable truth is that the PN has been wearing a mask for so long now that in moments like these, when the mask needs to be removed to recover, they cannot remove it without removing some of their own skin.
The PN has no commitment to learning.
This is a far cry from the Labour Party’s ethos, where there is a commitment to build a learning culture and constant renewal. We feel comfortable addressing our highs and lows, and continue to make suggestions to be the stimulus for a reformist government.
The Labour Party at this stage could easily rest on the laurels of a second electoral win and take a step back. Instead we are shaking things up, bringing new blood into the party and proposing food for thought.
We have our first female president leading our youth division and the lead programme coming up, emboldening a new generation of women to explore and join the political sphere which will undeniably lead to greater and more representative contributions. We are also undergoing our own exercises to consider, for example, why we lost a seat in the fifth district.
In parallel to the PN, we have had two separate elections for deputy leadership in just a few months, with the most recent one featuring three sound, well-credentialled and charismatic candidates.
Those campaigns, one of which I was honoured to be a part of, served as a reconnecting exercise where aspirations and delusions where shared and never evolved into the conflicted showdown the PN’s has proceeded to become.
The Labour Party constantly strives to do better because this country deserves better. We have delivered change and will continue to deliver change, as we are not afraid of it but indeed embrace it. The PN seems to be devastated by the concept.
Chris Cardona is the Labour Party deputy leader for party affairs.