The country is looking on practically in disbelief at the situation in which the Nationalist Party finds itself as it struggles to recover from the battering it received at the last election. The conventional wisdom is that none of the four candidates contesting its leadership election has enough of the qualities needed to mould it into the strong Opposition and credible alternative government that the nation needs it to be. For those who cherish democracy, this is worrying indeed.
However, the situation may not be as bleak as many are making it out to be.
What is crucial, though, is that before they cast their votes, PN councillors and card-carrying members examine their attitude to this contest. For the man they need is not necessarily the one that some believe will give their party the best chance of winning the next general election, at any cost. This is not a football team, where winning is the end in itself. Rather, when they reflect upon their choice of candidate it must be in connection with the vital role he must play as a principled leader of the Opposition party.
An effective opposition needs to have a good understanding of the needs and aspirations of society in all its diversity. This understanding must then be reflected in the party’s actions, whether questioning government decisions, scrutinising draft legislation, proposing alternative policies or making electoral pledges. This means the party leader needs to be a genuinely eager listener, one humble enough to step aside and generally allow the process of decision-making to start from the ground up.
Such decisions, however, also need to be guided by this great party’s fundamental political values. The leader might need to re-articulate some of the party’s ‘basic beliefs’ for 2017, but to do so he will need to have a very good grasp of them in the first place. They will need to have seeped into his DNA, as it were, so he does not lose sight of them in some push towards pragmatism or mad rush for votes.
If one of the Opposition’s duties is to hold the government to account and act as the guardian of good governance, to raise the alarm at any sign of corrupt practice and howl at any hint of abuse of power, then the leader of the Opposition must himself be unimpeachable. Otherwise his lack of credibility will further weaken our democracy. It is that important for his integrity to be beyond doubt.
At this stage of its existence, with its hopes shattered and its morale at rock bottom, the PN needs someone at its helm who can give it back its confidence and sense of purpose. Its leader must project the strength of self-confidence that is derived not from self-aggrandisement or from coaching but from the conviction of his principles and ideals and the certainty of well-thought-out policies and proposals.
What the country needs as Opposition leader is not someone who can emulate Joseph Muscat in brashness – Muscat won’t be around in the next election – but a dependable PM-in-waiting, someone more likely to follow in the footsteps of Lawrence Gonzi in working to hold the economy together if and when it takes a downturn.
Yes, the post truly is a poisoned chalice. One candidate has shown faint glimpses of being statesmanlike enough to grasp it.
In the assessment of The Sunday Times, the candidate that has shown the highest potential to fit the bill outlined above, the one most likely to rise to the occasion, who has already grown in stature since the start of the campaign, is Alex Perici Calascione.
He still has a long way to go but with hard work he will probably be able to attract the trust and respect the leader will need to rally the party around him and draw in anyone else who feels they can contribute.
It is not a reformer that the PN needs right now. It is not someone offering a “new way” or who panders to the tesserati with pledges not to sell party clubs, but someone who can steady the ship, carry on with the programme of debt reduction, unite the party behind a vision already in the making – necessarily involving good governance, zero tolerance for corruption and economic diversification – but who can also find more effective ways to reach out to voters, starting now.
The party needs someone to finish what Simon Busuttil started.